Russia, US Agree to Start Talks Soon   02/06 06:20

   Russian and U.S. negotiators discussed the expiration of the last remaining 
nuclear arms pact between the two countries and agreed on the need to quickly 
launch new arms control talks, the Kremlin said Friday.

   MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian and U.S. negotiators discussed the expiration of the 
last remaining nuclear arms pact between the two countries and agreed on the 
need to quickly launch new arms control talks, the Kremlin said Friday.

   The New START treaty terminated Thursday, leaving no caps on the two largest 
atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century and fueling 
fears of an unconstrained nuclear arms race.

   Russian and U.S. negotiators discussed the issue in the United Arab 
Emirates, where Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. delegations held two days of talks 
on a peace settlement in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told 
reporters Friday.

   "There is an understanding, and they talked about it in Abu Dhabi, that both 
parties will take responsible positions and both parties realize the need to 
start talks on the issue as soon as possible," Peskov said.

   Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared his readiness to stick to the 
treaty's limits for another year if Washington followed suit. U.S. President 
Donald Trump has ignored the offer and argued he wants China to be a part of a 
new pact, which Beijing has rebuffed.

   "Rather than extend 'NEW START' (A badly negotiated deal by the United 
States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated), we should 
have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that 
can last long into the future," Trump posted Thursday on his Truth Social 
network.

   Asked to comment on a report by Axios claiming Russian and U.S. negotiators 
discussed a possible informal deal to observe the pact's limits for at least 
six months, Peskov responded that any such extension could only be formal.

   "Obviously its provisions can only be extended in a formal way," Peskov 
said. "It's hard to imagine any informal extension in this sphere."

   Moscow views the treaty's expiration Thursday "negatively" and regrets it, 
Peskov said Thursday. At the same time, he emphasized that "if we receive 
constructive responses, we will certainly conduct a dialogue."

   Even as New START expired, the U.S. and Russia agreed Thursday to 
reestablish high-level, military-to-military dialogue following a meeting 
between senior officials from both sides in Abu Dhabi, the U.S. military 
command in Europe said.

   The link was suspended in 2021 as relations between Moscow and Washington 
grew increasingly strained before Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 
2022.

   New START provisions

   New START, signed in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama and his Russian 
counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, was the last remaining pact in a long series of 
agreements between Moscow and Washington to limit their nuclear arsenals, 
starting with SALT I in 1972.

   New START restricted each side to no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads on no 
more than 700 missiles and bombers deployed and ready for use. It was 
originally set to expire in 2021 but was extended for five years.

   The pact envisioned sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance, 
although they stopped in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never 
resumed.

   In February 2023, Putin suspended Moscow's participation, saying Russia 
couldn't allow U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites at a time when Washington 
and its NATO allies openly declared a goal of Moscow's defeat in Ukraine. At 
the same time, the Kremlin emphasized it wasn't withdrawing from the pact 
altogether, pledging to respect its caps on nuclear weapons.

   By offering in September to abide by New START's limits for a year, which 
would buy time for both sides to negotiate a successor agreement, Putin said 
the treaty's expiration would be destabilizing and could fuel nuclear 
proliferation.

   The U.S. wants a new deal involving China

   Trump has indicated he would like to keep limits on nuclear weapons but 
wants to involve China in a potential new treaty.

   In his first term, Trump tried and failed to push for a three-way nuclear 
pact involving China. Beijing has balked at any restrictions on its smaller but 
growing nuclear arsenal, while urging the U.S. to resume nuclear talks with 
Russia.

   Thomas DiNanno, a top U.S. diplomat in charge of arms control said Friday 
that the expiration of the last nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United 
States marks the "end of an era" of what he described as "U.S. unilateral 
restraint" and insisted that Trump wants a "better agreement" that would also 
involve Beijing.

   "As we sit here today, China's entire nuclear arsenal has no limits, no 
transparency, no declarations and no controls," DiNanno told the Conference on 
Disarmament, a U.N.-backed organization, in Geneva. He added that "the next era 
of arms control can and should continue with clear focus, but it will require 
the participation of more than just Russia at the negotiating table."

   DiNanno, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International 
Security, also accused Beijing of covertly conducting nuclear tests. "Today, I 
can reveal that the U.S. government is aware that China has conducted nuclear 
explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the 
hundreds of tons," he said.

   DiNanno stated that China's army "sought to conceal testing by obfuscating 
the nuclear explosions because it recognizes these tests violate test ban 
commitments."

   Ambassador Shen Jian of China accused the United States of "shifting the 
blame."