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START Treaty Non-Renewal Becoming More Realistic Prospect - Russian Envoy in Vienna

Sputnik News

03:33 19.11.2019

(Sputnik) - The possibility of the United States and Russia not extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) has become a more realistic development, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said.

"The entire arms control system has undergone severe erosion, and further deepening of this process will mean increasing instability, lack of predictability, and so on. This is a very negative prospect. The time for reaching an agreement on the New START extension is running out and no practical steps are taken in this direction. Of course, such a prospect becomes a more realistic one," Ulyanov said on Monday.

Earlier in November, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov expressed Moscow's concerns about the lack of interest by the US in renewing the treaty, which expires in February 2021.

New START is the last remaining arms control treaty in force between Russia and the United States. It stipulates that the number of strategic nuclear missiles launchers must be cut by half and limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550.

Open Skies Treaty

Ulyanov has also commented on the situation over the Open Skies Treaty, which the US was reportedly planning to abandon.

"The discussions about possible US withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty have been going on for several years. From time to time, such information appears. It is difficult to say whether this information is true because there are currently no practical steps undertaken by the United States towards its withdrawal from the treaty," Ulyanov said.

Earlier, US media reported US President Donald Trump had signed a document to quit the Open Skies Treaty - a move Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said would be regrettable.

The Open Skies Treaty allows parties to carry out aerial surveillance through scheduled observation flights over each participating state. More than 30 countries are participating in the program, which was created to boost the transparency of military activities.

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

The Russian Permanent Representative has revealed when the next meeting of the Joint Commission responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program would most likely take place.

"Apparently, a meeting at the level of political directors will be held this year," Ulyanov said. "I understand that the meeting might take place in the beginning of December."

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is also known as the Iran nuclear deal, was struck in July 2015 by Iran and six international mediators – China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The main idea of the accord was to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting existed unilateral and international sanction regimes.

In May of 2018, the United States withdrew from the deal and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran. Roughly a year later, Tehran responded by warning that it would steadily abandon its own JCPOA obligations every 60 days unless the other signatories attempted to save the accord by facilitating oil exports and trade with Iran. It has since been gradually following through on its warnings.

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