UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Russia and the USA to prolong the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), he told reporters on Thursday, APA reports citing TASS.
"I strongly encourage the United States and the Russian Federation to extend the so-called ‘New Start’ agreement to provide stability and the time to negotiate future arms control measures," he said.
Guterres has expressed his regret over the US’ exit from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. "The Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty the INF is a landmark agreement that helped stabilize Europe and end the Cold War," he said, warning that when the INF expires on Friday, "the world will lose an invaluable brake on nuclear war." "This will likely heighten, not reduce, the threat posed by ballistic missiles," Guterres stressed.
"Regardless of what transpires, the parties should avoid destabilizing developments and urgently seek agreement on a new common path for international arms control," the UN Secretary General urged.
The Russian-US New START treaty took effect in 2011. Under its terms, either party shall reduce its strategic offensive arms in such a way that by the end of a seven-year period following the moment the treaty takes effect, it should have no more than 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles and heavy bombers, 1,550 warheads for them and 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM and SLBM launchers and heavy bombers.
The treaty shall stay in effect for ten years (up to 2021) unless it is replaced by another agreement by that moment, or it can be prolonged for no more than five years (until 2026) by mutual consent. Lately, Moscow repeatedly urged Washington to avoid delays in prolonging that treaty, which it described as a gold standard in the field of disarmament.
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