Jens Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the extension of the missile treaty by Moscow and Washington. He left the corresponding comment on his Twitter account.
“I welcome the agreement to extend the NewSTART Treaty (Treaty on Measures to Further Reduce and Limit Strategic Offensive Arms – START, unofficially called START-3) for five years. The Treaty contributes to international stability and is of great importance to NATO Allies. This is the beginning, not the end, of efforts to further strengthen international arms control, ”Stoltenberg wrote.
Earlier on February 3, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the extension of the START Treaty with the United States. Moscow and Washington exchanged relevant notes. The countries have officially extended the missile treaty for five years. Thus, it will operate as signed until February 5, 2026.
The Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Agreement was signed in 2010 by the then presidents of Russia and the United States, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. It came into force in 2011 and expired in February 2021.
The treaty stipulates that each side must not have more than 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and strategic bombers. In total, they can carry no more than 1,550 warheads.
The total number of deployed and non-deployed launchers of ICBMs and SLBMs, as well as deployed and non-deployed bombers, shall not exceed 800.
