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Senior Russian officials on Friday welcomed the news that President Joe Biden’s administration was set to approach their country in the hope of resuming dialogue on the latest US-Russia nuclear treaty.
“Russia undoubtedly supports the preservation and extension of the START Treaty in order to obtain a certain deadline to complete all the necessary negotiations and contacts,” said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary to Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the meeting. a daily call with journalists.
An internal State Department memo obtained by NBC News on Thursday said the United States would propose that the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or new START, which expires on February 5, be extended for five years.
Peskov added that while he welcomes “the political will to expand the document,” he still has not received the US proposal.
Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, echoed Peskov’s sentiments by telling Russian journalists, “the ball is in the American court”.
Obtaining a treaty renewal is one of the most pressing national security challenges facing Biden’s new team.
The proposal was the first reported by the Washington Post.
The note instructed US diplomats to brief allies of the proposal “at the highest appropriate level.”
While the memo titled “Demarche request: New START extension” said Washington’s relationship with Moscow was “likely to remain difficult,” it added that New START “is clearly in the interest of US national security. and our allies “because it” provides limits to the Russian nuclear program, gives us information about the Russian nuclear arsenal and gives us access to Russian nuclear facilities.
The cable adds that the United States remains “aware of the challenges posed by Russia” and that the Biden administration “will work in close consultation with our allies and partners to hold Russia accountable for its reckless and aggressive actions.”
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The State Department did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Signed in 2010 by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, the new START treaty limited each country to a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads deployed and 700 missiles and bombers deployed.
It is the only nuclear arms control agreement between the two countries still in effect after Moscow and Washington withdrew from the 1987 Treaty on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces last year.
Russia had offered the Trump administration a five-year extension of the new START treaty without preconditions and signaled this week that the deal was still possible.
The Trump administration rejected Russia’s offer and pushed for a shorter arms control deal that included a freeze on all nuclear warheads and the future inclusion of China. But the negotiations ended in an impasse.
“I hope that’s not true. If so, shows a glaring lack of negotiating skills, ”Marshall Billingslea, the main US negotiator under Trump tweeted after the proposal reports became public. “It only took 24 hours for Biden’s team to squander the most important leverage we have on Russia.”
After Biden was sworn in on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it hoped the new administration “would take a more constructive position in its dialogue with Russia” on the new START.
“For our part, we are ready for such work on the basis of equality and respect for the interests of everyone,” he said.
Matthew Bodner, Tatyana Chistikova and Yasmine Salam contributed.
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