“What we are proposing at this stage is not a treaty that requires Senate ratification.
But we expect that on the basis of this a framework concept will emerge, which will ultimately be transformed into a full-fledged treaty, ”he said.
Billingsley said the future treaty should be multilateral and involve China.
If such an agreement is reached at the presidential level, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty will be extended for less than five years, the diplomat emphasized.
“We cannot take our foot off the pedal, as they say, we need to get down to work on the next agreement.
Therefore, for now we are thinking about a shorter period of time, ”the American special envoy said.
In late August, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Moscow and Washington had held productive and comprehensive negotiations on a possible extension of START III.