The world could enter a dangerous new phase of uncertainty unless the last major nuclear arms control treaty, New START, is extended, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned. He noted that the agreement between Russia and the US is due to expire in just ten days’ time.
New START was signed by Medvedev and then-US President Barack Obama in 2010 and capped deployed strategic warheads at 1,550 per country. Following US withdrawals from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, New START is the last remaining weapons control agreement between the two countries.
If allowed to expire on February 5, it will mark the first time since 1972 that there will be no legally binding limits on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals.
In an interview with the Kommersant newspaper on Monday, Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, hailed the treaty as a “win-win” achievement of “real compromises,” stating that it had played “a positive role.”
However, he said that the end of the treaty is now imminent due to American actions and blamed the agreement’s deterioration on the “irresponsible approach of the US to its implementation,” as well as Washington’s Golden Dome missile defense project and statements about resuming nuclear tests.
This approach by Washington effectively forced Russia to suspend its participation in the agreement in 2023, Medvedev explained, but he noted that Moscow has nevertheless continued to observe the treaty’s numerical limits.
Medvedev recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a one-year extension of the treaty’s central limits last September, but stated that “no substantive official response” has been received from Washington.
“If we don’t hear any specifics from Washington, then we will proceed from the real steps of the American side,” he stated. “Russia is ready for any development of events” and will “promptly and firmly” counter any new threats to its security using its new Oreshnik, Burevestnik, and Poseidon weapon systems, Medvedev stressed.
“The successful work of the Russian defense industry is a tranquilizer for the neurotics from the club of Russia’s enemies,” he added.