WASHINGTON, USA.~ White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that the Biden administration is ready to talk to Russia without conditions about a future nuclear arms control framework while taking countermeasures in response to the Kremlin’s suspension of the last treaty. As tensions rose after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Russia’s involvement with the New START Treaty’s nuclear warhead and missile inspections in February. Russia pledged to follow the treaty’s nuclear weapons limits.
At the Arms Control Association’s annual convention, Sullivan said the US will adhere to the deal if Russia does and wants to start a dialogue on a new nuclear risk management framework after the pact expires in February 2026. “It is in neither of our countries’ interest to embark on opening the competition in strategic nuclear forces,” Sullivan added. The US is willing to engage Russia now to control nuclear risks and negotiate a post-2026 agreement.
The U.S. will keep warhead caps until the deal ends. U.S.-Russia hostility and China’s nuclear power will complicate post-2026 framework details. An annual Federation of American Scientists poll estimates China has 410 nuclear weapons. In November, the Pentagon predicted 1,000 Chinese warheads by 2020 and 1,500 by 2035.
Administration officials said China’s arsenal and willingness to talk will affect the U.S. force posture and Washington’s ability to reach a deal with Russia. The shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon this year after it crossed the continental United States, tensions over Taiwan, which China claims as its own, and U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductor equipment have strained relations. “Simply put we have not yet seen the willingness from the PRC to compartmentalize strategic stability from broader issues in the relationship,” Sullivan added.
After Russia withdrew from the deal, the White House pressed Moscow on nuclear armaments limitation. The State Department said it would no longer update Russia on the status or location of “treaty-accountable items” like missiles and launchers, revoke visas for Russian treaty inspectors and aircrew members, and stop providing telemetric information on test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
The US and Russia ceased sharing biannual nuclear weapons data this year. In 2010, then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed a deal that restricts each country to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 missiles and bombers and requires on-site inspections. COVID-19 has halted inspections since 2020. Russia canceled November 2022 talks on renewing them, citing U.S. support for Ukraine.
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