Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it is premature to speak about extending the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) until the discussion between the parties is held.
Yesterday, sources inside the White House have revealed that US President Donald Trump paused to ask aides what the New START treaty was, during a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, before telling Putin it was one in a string of bad deals completed by the Obama administration.
"I would not formulate any positions as of now. We had a certain break in dialogue on strategic security issues, therefore, of course, in terms of the break there is a need for a certain update of information and positions," Peskov told reporters.
Peskov noted that the prospects of extending the New START that is set to expire in 2021 will "depend on the position of our American partners" and require negotiations.
Peskov said he would not comment on reports of US President Donald Trump criticizing the treaty to Putin.
He also wouldn't say whether the Kremlin favors extending the 2010 pact that limited Russian and US nuclear arsenals to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads for each country
The New START is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation, which entered into force on February 5, 2011. The treaty limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1550. The number of deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments is limited to 700.
Obama offered to cut the US deployed strategic arsenal by a third in 2013, providing Russia did the same, but Vladimir Putin refused.
The President of the National Strategy Institute, Mikhail Remizov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, dismissed Trump's statement that START Treaty is crucial for Moscow.
"The extension of the treaty must not be considered as something on which Russia insists. The main thing is that the Russian side voiced certain signals that nuclear disarmament in the former Russian-US format has exhausted itself, that in a situation of the US's colossal superiority in conventional weapons, high-precision weapons and the development of a global missile defense system, nuclear disarmament is turning into a one-way track, which is disadvantageous for Moscow," Remizov noted.
According to him, the rejection of the START Treaty will not lead to any serious consequences: Russia will be free to increase its offensive weapons if necessary. "The development of the offensive potential is much cheaper than improving a missile defense system: one dollar invested in the offensive system by Russia will be equal to $10 or $100 on the development of missile defense by the US," the President of the National Strategy Institute said.
Remizov recalled that Moscow and Washington are governed by different doctrines: Russia by the doctrine of assured retaliation, the US by the doctrine of strategic invulnerability. "The US wants to achieve the situation when no force in the world could inflict it an unacceptable damage. In this context the deployment of a missile defense system is needed," the expert said.
He added that any concessions on which the START Treaty could be extended are hardly possible. "The START Treaty marked the limit of the disarmament in the former format. A further dialogue should include other nuclear powers, but there is no sign of such a dialogue, considering the fact that everyone values its arsenal. But most importantly, a further nuclear disarmament is harmful in terms of strategic stability," Mikhail Remizov concluded.
The director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University, Yuri Rogulyov, expressed doubt that the United States will abandon the START Treaty. "It is one of the few cornerstones of the Russian-US relations and in the international security system. Therefore, the United States and Russia have a special responsibility," he noted.
"I do not think that the US will abandon it, but they are able to correct some discrepancies or show concern for a number of issues, everything is decided in this issue on the basis of negotiation and compromise," Yuri Rogulev concluded.
