US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov on Friday discussed arms control and other issues as Moscow has signaled readiness to include some of its latest nuclear weapons in the last remaining arms control pact between the two countries if Washington accepts the Kremlin’s offer to extend it.
The US Department of State said that the two top diplomats discussed the next steps in the bilateral strategic security dialogue.
Pompeo emphasized that any future arms control talks must be based on US President Donald Trump’s vision for a trilateral arms control agreement that includes China along with the US and Russia, the department said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to extend New START, which expires in February next year.
The Trump administration has pushed for a new pact that would include China as a signatory. Moscow has described that goal as unrealistic, given Beijing’s reluctance to discuss any deal that would reduce its much smaller nuclear arsenal.
Separately on Friday, the department sent to the US Congress a report on Russian compliance with the treaty.
Although Moscow is abiding by its terms, the accord does not cover enough weapons systems and leaves China with a free hand, the report said, but added that the administration has not yet made a decision on whether to renew the treaty.
During the call with Pompeo, Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s offer to extend New START, saying that Russia is ready to discuss possible new agreements, but considers it important to preserve the existing treaty as a “cornerstone of global security,” the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The top diplomats agreed to intensify the US-Russia arms control dialogue, it added.
Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia’s new Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile and Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle could be counted along with other Russian nuclear weapons under the treaty.
The Sarmat is still under development, while the first missile unit armed with the Avangard became operational in December last year.
The Russian military has said that the Avangard is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound and could make sharp maneuvers on its way to a target to bypass missile defense systems.
It has been fitted to existing Soviet-built intercontinental ballistic missiles instead of older warheads, and could be fitted to the more powerful Sarmat.
New START, signed in 2010 by then-US president Barack Obama and then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.
The treaty, which can be extended for another five years, envisages a comprehensive verification mechanism to check compliance, including on-site inspections of each side’s nuclear bases.
New START is the only US-Russia arms control pact still in effect after Moscow and Washington last year withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Arms control advocates have warned that its demise could trigger a new arms race and upset strategic stability.
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