Russian parliament OKs New START nuclear treaty extension with US

MOSCOW — Russian lawmakers on Wednesday quickly approved the extension of the last remaining nuclear Russia-U.S. arms control treaty, a fast-track action that comes just days before it’s due to expire.

Both houses of parliament voted unanimously to extend the New START treaty for five years, a day after a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin . The Kremlin said they agreed to complete the necessary extension procedures in the next few days.

Speaking via video link to the World Economic Forum’s virtual meeting, Putin hailed the decision to extend the treaty as “a step in the right direction,” but warned of rising global rivalries and threats of new conflicts.

The pact’s extension doesn’t require congressional approval in the U.S., but Russian lawmakers must ratify the move and Putin has to sign the relevant bill into law.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told lawmakers that the extension will be validated by exchanging diplomatic notes once all the procedures are completed.

The upper house speaker, Valentina Matvienko, said after the vote that the decision to extend the pact shows that Russia and the U.S. can reach agreements on major issues despite the tensions between them.

New START expires on Feb. 5. After taking office last week, Biden proposed extending the treaty for five years, and the Kremlin quickly welcomed the offer.

The treaty, signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance.

Biden indicated during the campaign that he favored the preservation of the New START treaty, which was negotiated during his tenure as U.S. vice president.

Russia has long proposed prolonging the pact without any conditions or changes, but the Trump administration waited until last year to start talks and made the extension contingent on a set of demands. The talks stalled, and months of bargaining have failed to narrow differences.

The negotiations were also marred by tensions between Russia and the United States, which have been fueled by the Ukrainian crisis, Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other irritants.

After both Moscow and Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, New START is the only remaining nuclear arms control deal between the two countries.

Earlier this month, Russia announced that it would follow the U.S. in pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty , which allowed surveillance flights over military facilities, to help build trust and transparency between Russia and the West.

Before the Biden administration took office, Russia always had offered to extend New START for five years — a possibility that was envisaged by the pact at the time it was signed. But President Donald Trump charged that it put the U.S. at a disadvantage. Trump initially insisted that China be added to the treaty, an idea that Beijing bluntly dismissed.

The Trump administration then proposed to extend New START for just one year and also sought to expand it to include limits on battlefield nuclear weapons.

Arms control advocates hailed the treaty’s extension as a boost to global security and urged Russia and the U.S. to start negotiating follow-up agreements.

Ryabkov said that Russia will count its Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle along with other Russian nuclear weapons under the treaty limits.

The Russian military has said the Avangard is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound and could make sharp maneuvers on its way to a target to bypass missile defense systems. It has been fitted to a few existing Soviet-built intercontinental ballistic missiles instead of older type warheads, and in the future could be fitted to the Sarmat, a prospective intercontinental ballistic missile now under development.

Ryabkov said that Russia is ready to sit down for talks on prospective arms cuts, noting that they should also involve non-nuclear precision weapons with strategic range.

莫斯科——俄罗斯议员周三迅速批准延长俄美之间仅存的核军控条约，这一快速行动距离该条约到期仅剩几天。

在美国总统拜登和俄罗斯总统普京通电话的第二天，议会两院一致投票决定将《新削减战略武器条约》延长五年。克里姆林宫表示，双方同意在未来几天内完成必要的延期程序。

普京通过视频连线向世界经济论坛虚拟会议发表讲话，称赞延长该条约的决定是“朝着正确方向迈出的一步”，但他警告说，全球竞争日益加剧，新的冲突威胁也随之而来。

该协议的延期在美国不需要国会批准，但俄罗斯立法者必须批准这一举措，普京还必须签署相关法案使其生效。

外交部副部长谢尔盖·里亚布科夫告诉议员们，一旦所有程序完成，延期将通过交换外交照会予以确认。

俄罗斯联邦上议院议长瓦伦蒂娜·马特维延科在投票后表示，延长该条约的决定表明，尽管俄罗斯和美国之间存在紧张关系，但两国仍能在重大问题上达成协议。

新START条约将于2月5日到期。拜登上周就职后提议将该条约延长五年，克里姆林宫迅速接受了这一提议。

该条约由美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马和俄罗斯总统德米特里·梅德韦杰夫于 2010 年签署，规定每个国家部署的核弹头不得超过 1550 枚，部署的导弹和轰炸机不得超过 700 架，并设想进行全面的现场核查以核实遵守情况。

拜登在竞选期间表示，他赞成保留《新削减战略武器条约》，该条约是他担任美国副总统期间谈判达成的。

俄罗斯长期以来一直提议在不附加任何条件或做出任何改变的情况下延长该协议，但特朗普政府直到去年才启动谈判，并将延期与一系列要求挂钩。谈判陷入僵局，数月的讨价还价也未能缩小分歧。

谈判还受到俄罗斯和美国之间紧张关系的干扰，而这种紧张关系又因乌克兰危机、莫斯科干预2016年美国总统选举以及其他一些摩擦因素而加剧。

2019 年，莫斯科和华盛顿双双退出 1987 年《中导条约》后，《新削减战略武器条约》成为两国之间仅存的核军控协议。

本月初，俄罗斯宣布将效仿美国退出《开放天空条约》，该条约允许对军事设施进行侦察飞行，以帮助建立俄罗斯与西方之间的信任和透明度。

在拜登政府上台之前，俄罗斯一直提议将《新削减战略武器条约》延长五年——这一可能性在条约签署之初就已预见。但特朗普总统指责此举会使美国处于不利地位。特朗普最初坚持将中国也纳入该条约，但这一提议遭到北京断然拒绝。

特朗普政府随后提议将《新削减战略武器条约》延长一年，并试图扩大该条约的适用范围，使其包含对战场核武器的限制。

军控倡导者称赞该条约的延期有利于全球安全，并敦促俄罗斯和美国开始谈判后续协议。

里亚布科夫表示，俄罗斯将把其“先锋”高超音速滑翔飞行器与其他俄罗斯核武器一起计入条约限制范围。

俄罗斯军方表示，“先锋”导弹的飞行速度可达音速的27倍，并能在飞向目标的过程中进行急转弯，从而绕过导弹防御系统。目前，一些苏联时期研制的洲际弹道导弹已经配备了这种导弹，取代了原有的老式弹头。未来，它还有可能被安装在正在研发中的新型洲际弹道导弹“萨尔马特”上。

里亚布科夫表示，俄罗斯准备坐下来就未来的裁军问题进行谈判，并指出裁军也应包括具有战略射程的非核精确武器。