The lifting of restrictions on Russia and the US strategic nuclear arsenals would be very bad for global security, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, quoted by TASS and Reuters, quoted by BTA.
The "New START" treaty between the two countries expires on February 5. It was signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in 2010 and establishes limits on the number of strategic weapons that each of them would use against the other's critical political and military centers in the event of war, Reuters points out. The agreement limits the number of deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 for each country and no more than 700 missiles and bombers capable of delivering them.
Peskov said that Moscow's proposal to continue to observe the treaty's limits on missiles, launchers and nuclear warheads for another year is still on the table, but the United States has not yet responded to it.
"In the remaining days, our proposals remain on the agenda," Peskov said.
In the fall of last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Security Council that Moscow was ready to observe the quantitative limits for another year after the expiration of the term of the treaty stipulated in it. However, Putin stressed that this measure is possible only on condition that Washington does the same, TASS notes.