The United States and Russia plan next month to conduct talks on the future of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which is set to expire at the end of 2009, the Moscow Times reported (see GSN, Sept. 30).
Moscow has pressed for some sort of extension or replacement for the 1991 treaty, which allows the two nations to each deploy no more than 6,000 strategic nuclear warheads and a maximum of 1,600 delivery vehicles. Russian leaders have complained about the Bush administration’s seeming disinterest in pursuing a follow-up agreement.
The U.S. State Department said Friday that Moscow and Washington “have held extensive discussions regarding a post-Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) agreement and we expect to continue those discussions.
“With regard to the extension of a START, the parties are obligated to meet no later than one year prior to the expiration date of the treaty, i.e. Dec. 5, 2008, to begin consideration of whether or not to extend the treaty,” the agency said. “The parties to … START will meet in Geneva in mid-November to initiate this process.”
The talks are not expected to involve Cabinet-level officials, said State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid.
The Bush administration is not likely to reach a new agreement before ceding the White House to the next president in January, said Daryl Kimball, head of the Arms Control Association. However, a deal on extending components of the existing pact is possible, he said.
“It will take a new administration to bridge differences and find a replacement for START,” Kimball said.
The two U.S. senators running for president, Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have said they back talks on arms control deals with Russia, the Times reported (Moscow Times, Oct. 20).
U.S. and Russian experts are scheduled to meet this month for talks on the Bush administration’s plans for missile defense installations in Europe, Interfax reported.
Moscow has consistently argued that deploying 10 missile interceptors in Poland and an early warning radar in the Czech Republic would constitute a threat to its security. It has threatened a military response to the sites (see GSN, Aug. 21).
Washington counters that the facilities would be intended to provide defense against nations such as Iran and could not be used to counter Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal.
The talks are intended to address means of resolving Moscow’s concerns, according to U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle (InterfaxStoc/ikAnalyst.com, Oct. 17).