The head of the Strategic Command (STRATCOM) of the US Armed Forces, Admiral Charles Richard, assessed the importance of the Treaty on Measures to Further Reduce and Limit Strategic Offensive Arms (START, unofficially called START-3). TASS reports his words.
“This is an attribute that should be in those cases if you strive to be a great power,” – said Richard. He described the treaty as the most recent example of a relationship between Russia and the United States designed to ensure transparency and understanding of each other's motives regarding strategic forces.
At the same time, the admiral did not specify whether the countries resumed inspections under the missile treaty. He recalled that the US State Department is dealing with this issue. “We welcome inspections and fully support them when they are done,” added Richard.
On December 24, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for arms control, Marshall Billingsley, said that the United States was not interested in extending START. The politician called the missile treaty between Washington and Moscow a bad deal and explained that it was precisely because of this that START “had a hard time in the Senate.”
On October 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Washington to extend the current START-3 treaty “without any conditions for at least a year, in order to be able to conduct meaningful negotiations on all parameters.” US National Security Assistant Robert O'Brien called the initiative a failure.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed in 2010 by the presidents of Russia and the United States – Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. The agreement came into force in 2011 and expires in February 2021.
