Robert Charles O'Brien
The United States has prepared a proposal to Russia on the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START-3). This was stated by the Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Robert O'Brien, reports TASS.
“Assuming we can agree on a suitable verification to freeze the nuclear potential, I think we can strike a deal. (…) I think we will formulate something in the near future, ”said the representative of Washington. He added that details are especially important in negotiations on a nuclear arsenal.
Earlier, Russia threatened the United States to withdraw its proposal to freeze its nuclear arsenals for a year for further negotiations. According to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow may reconsider its position on the issue of nuclear weapons, depending on how the American side introduces itself. He also stressed that Russia will not comply with any additional requirements of Washington for the extension of START III.
Earlier, NATO defense ministers supported the extension of START-3 between Russia and the United States for a year. As the Secretary General of the alliance Jens Stoltenberg noted, NATO supports the negotiations between the two countries on the extension of the treaty and welcomes the progress achieved in recent days on this issue.
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.” O'Brien called it a failure.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed in 2010 by the then presidents of Russia and the United States, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. The agreement came into force in 2011 and expires in February 2021.
