“The US and Russia are negotiating the extension of the SNO-III treaty, which expires on Thursday.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Kyrylo Dmitriev and Steve Witkoff. Photo: Getty Images Source: “European Truth” with reference to Axios
Details: Two sources told Axios that the draft plan still needs approval from the leaders of both countries.
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Another source confirmed that talks had been ongoing in Abu Dhabi over the past 24 hours, but did not confirm that an agreement had been reached.
The SNO-III treaty is the last major obstacle holding back the nuclear arsenals of the two countries, which together possess about 85% of the world’s stockpile of nuclear warheads.
President Donald Trump’s emissaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks on a new SNO treaty with Russian officials on the sidelines of talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi.
The current agreement expires on Thursday, and it is not known whether an agreement to abide by its terms will be formalized for an additional period – possibly six months.
The SNO-III treaty limits the number of nuclear warheads that the US and Russia can place on submarines, missiles and bombers and includes important transparency mechanisms.
Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin had earlier suggested a short-term extension, but the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday lamented in a highly critical statement that “our ideas were deliberately left unanswered.”
The main reason for the White House’s skepticism about extending the new NPT was that it does not constrain China, which has a much smaller but rapidly expanding nuclear capability.
Beijing has shown no interest in joining a deal that would limit its nuclear program, and has no clear incentives to do so.
According to one of the sources, the next step will be the signing of an agreement on the extension of the contract by Trump and Putin.
For reference: The SNO-III Treaty (or New START) is the last major agreement between the United States and Russia on the mutual reduction and limitation of strategic offensive weapons. It was signed in 2010 in Prague by Presidents Obama and Medvedev, entered into force in 2011 and was supposed to become the foundation of “nuclear stability” in the world.
We will remind:
- On February 4, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia stated that after the termination of the SNO-III Treaty, the Russian Federation no longer considers itself bound by limitations on its nuclear arsenal.
- And the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former president Dmitry Medvedev published a “scarecrow” about nuclear war in connection with the loss of validity of the SNO-III treaty.