The US President Barack Obama administration is determined to use its final six months in office to take a series of executive actions. The president is considering using the freedom afforded a departing administration to cross off several remaining items on his nuclear wish list, the Washington Post newspaper reports.
Several US officials said that the options include declaring a “no first use” policy for the United States’ nuclear arsenal, which would be a landmark change in the country’s nuclear posture. Another option under consideration is seeking a UN Security Council resolution affirming a ban on the testing of nuclear weapons.
The administration is also considering offering Russia a five-year extension of the New START treaty’s limits on deployed nuclear weapons, even though those limits don’t expire until 2021. This way, Obama could ensure that the next administration doesn’t let the treaty lapse.
Russia will not extend the New START arms reduction treaty with the United States unless Moscow's concerns regarding the deployment of missile defense in Europe are taken into account, the head of the Russian Federation Council's Defense Committee Viktor Ozerov said Monday.
The treaty with the formal name Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms was signed between Russia and the United States in April 2010 in Prague, and entered into force on February 5, 2011. The Treaty’s duration is ten years — until 2021, unless superseded by a subsequent agreement, Sputnik reports.
