Washington welcomes the new Russian proposal to extend the New START Treaty

Washington-SANA

The United States of America welcomed today the new Russian proposal to extend the work of the New START Treaty for nuclear disarmament for an additional year, expressing its readiness for an immediate meeting to put the final touches on the agreement.

"We appreciate the intention of the Russian Federation to achieve progress in the issue of arms control, and the United States is ready for an immediate meeting to finalize a verifiable agreement," the US State Department said in a statement, expressing its hope that Russia will assign its diplomats to do the same.

Russia announced earlier today its readiness to commit with the United States to a joint freeze on the nuclear warheads owned by the two sides, according to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed last Friday to extend the current Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty for a year without any conditions.

It is noteworthy that the START 3 Treaty is an extension of the Treaty on Limiting Strategic Offensive Weapons START I signed in June 1991 in Moscow.

Russia and the United States signed the START 3 treaty in Prague in April 2010 to replace START I, which expired in December 2009.