The extension of the New Start disarmament treaty ratified by the lower house of the Russian parliament
The Russian nuclear submarine "Orel", July 29, 2018 (illustrative image).
AFP - OLGA MALTSEVA
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The lower house of the Russian Parliament ratified, Wednesday, January 27, the five-year extension of the Russian-American nuclear disarmament treaty New Start, the day after an agreement "in extremis" between the two great geopolitical rivals.
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The ratification vote came the day after the first conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his new American counterpart Joe Biden.
Negotiations on the New Start Treaty were blocked under President Donald Trump.
"The agreement between Moscow and Washington is extended for the maximum possible duration - five years - until February 5, 2026", said the Duma, in a statement, after a unanimous vote of the deputies present in plenary session and disseminated to the television.
"
Agreement in principle
"
The text must be examined during the day by the upper house of the Russian Parliament.
On Tuesday evening, President Putin submitted this bill to the Duma after his telephone interview with Joe Biden.
Washington and Moscow had indicated that an "
agreement in principle
" had been reached to extend this treaty which is due to expire on February 5.
The extension of the text's validity is the first major diplomatic breakthrough in years between the United States and Russia, whose relations are at their lowest since the end of the Cold War, due to persistent disagreements on numerous international issues. .
Signed in 2010, the New Start agreement is the last nuclear weapons agreement binding the two countries.
In detail, it limits the arsenals of Russia and the United States to a maximum of 1,550 warheads deployed for each of these two countries, a reduction of nearly 30% compared to the previous ceiling set in 2002. It limits also the number of launchers and heavy bombers to 800, which is still enough to destroy the Earth several times.
Three other agreements left by the United States
The Trump administration had accepted its conditional extension for only one year, the time to negotiate a more comprehensive agreement including China, but talks with Moscow and Beijing had not succeeded.
The United States left under Trump three other important international agreements: the one on Iranian nuclear power, the INF treaty on medium-range land missiles and the Open Skies treaty on the verification of military movements and the limitation of armaments.
Russia has therefore also left this latest agreement.
This extension "
is undoubtedly a step in the right direction
", however declared Vladimir Poutine, during a video speech at the forum of Davos, while estimating that the world order always risked "
to develop in an unforeseeable and uncontrollable way.
".
He thus noted that a new world conflict would mark "
the end of civilization
", drawing a parallel between the "
challenges and threats
" which are multiplying in the world and the 1930s which led to the Second World War.
(
with AFP
)
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