Arms Control Association Head: Russia, US Need Quiet Security Talks for New Treaty
En resumen
Thomas Countryman, Chairman of the Arms Control Association, believes Russia and the US should engage in quiet, non-public security consultations to develop a new arms control treaty, as prospects for a formal agreement are currently low following the New START treaty's expiration.
Resumen generado por IA
Por qué importa
The New START treaty, which limited the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and bombs that Russia and the United States could possess, expired on February 5. Russia and the US have not yet agreed on a successor treaty. The US has proposed trilateral agreements involving China, which China has rejected.
Conducting non-public security consultations could help Russia and the United States eventually develop a new agreement to replace the expired Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START), the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Arms Control Association, Thomas Countryman, told TASS.
"I think prospects for a new treaty right now are very low," the expert, who served as Acting US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security in 2016-2017, noted while speaking about the prospects for Moscow and Washington to develop a new arms control treaty. As Countryman noted, the aforementioned association hopes that Russia and the US will "start talking to each other."
"I just mean talking, I do not mean a strategic stability dialogue with big capital letters and lots of publicity, but quiet discussion about the security concerns that each has, and as they make the effort to understand each other better, that will lead, I hope, towards an agreement about the next treaty," he explained. The expert participated in the annual meeting of the Arms Control Association held in Washington.
Earlier, Countryman served as Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation. In recent years, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the non-governmental Arms Control Association.
The Russian-US Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) expired on February 5. The United States has actually refused to accept Russia’s proposal to abide by the treaty’s central limits for another twelve months. Washington has stated that it expects to sign trilateral agreements on this score with China’s participation. Beijing has rejected this approach, calling the US desire to include China in the Russian-US process of nuclear arms reduction already at the current stage as unfair and unreasonable. China says that its nuclear arsenal is far smaller than the US and Russian arsenals.
Qué observar
Perspectiva de IA — posibilidades, no hechos
Russia and the US will start quiet security consultations.
Posible · En meses
A new arms control treaty between Russia and the US will be developed.
Especulativo · Largo plazo
Preguntas abiertas
- Will Russia and the US initiate quiet security consultations?
- What specific security concerns will be discussed?
- Will these discussions lead to a new arms control treaty?
- What is the US's timeline for pursuing trilateral agreements?
