New US President Joe Biden wants to extend for five years the key New Start nuclear disarmament treaty between the United States and Russia, which expires in early February, the White House spokeswoman said Thursday.
"The United States intends to achieve a five-year extension of New Start, as permitted by the treaty,"
said Jen Psaki at a press conference the day after the Democrat took office.
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"The president has always made it clear that the New Start Treaty was in the interest of the national security of the United States, and such an extension is even more necessary when relations with Russia are strained,"
she said. .
To show that it was not a blank check, President Biden at the same time asked the American intelligence services
"a comprehensive review"
of the recent cyberattack blamed on Moscow, possible
"interference"
in the elections. and on
"the use of chemical weapons against opposition leader Alexeï Navalny,"
said Jen Psaki.
The New Start proposal should be welcomed by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who also said he was in favor of a five-year extension.
The former administration of Donald Trump had only accepted a conditional extension of one year, the time to negotiate a more comprehensive agreement, but the talks with Moscow had not succeeded.
This treaty, the last agreement of its kind between the two former rivals of the Cold War, limits the arsenals of the two nuclear powers to a maximum of 1,550 warheads deployed each, a reduction of nearly 30% compared to the previous limit set in 2002. He also limits the number of launchers and heavy bombers to 800, which is still enough to destroy Earth multiple times.