Russian officials: Russia and the United States are expected to reach an agreement on extending the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty"

　　Chinanews, October 23. According to Russian Satellite Network, on the 22nd local time, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov stated that Russia and the United States are expected to reach an agreement on the extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty for one year.

　　According to reports, Russia and the United States will conduct expert-level contacts on the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" in the next few days.

　　Peskov said, "At least there is hope that we can have a dialogue between our diplomats and American diplomats. I hope they can reach an agreement to extend the treaty for one year."

　　He said, "In order to overcome the huge differences between Russia and the United States, we have made many attempts under very difficult circumstances. We must follow the path of these negotiations." "This is not so much a hope that the treaty will continue to exist. Rather, we want to try to discuss its further feasibility."

　　According to reports, earlier on the 22nd, Russian President Putin reiterated that Russia hopes to extend the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" and emphasized that this is in the interests of Russia and the United States.

　　The "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" was signed by the leaders of Russia and the United States in 2010 and came into effect on February 5, 2011, with a validity period of 10 years.

Prior to this, the United States had withdrawn from the "Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty" and "Intermediate-Range Missile Treaty" and announced the initiation of the procedures for withdrawing from the "Open Skies Treaty."

At present, the only effective major arms control treaty between Russia and the United States is the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

　　On October 13, 2020, the US President’s Special Envoy Marshall Billingsley, who is in charge of the US-Russian arms control negotiations, told the media that the US is willing to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty while temporarily freezing US and Russian nuclear arsenals.

On the 20th of the same month, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on its website stating that Russia proposed to extend the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" for one year and was prepared to undertake political obligations with the United States to freeze the number of nuclear warheads held by both sides during this period.