US should accept Russia’s New START proposal without delay — US anti-war activist

WASHINGTON, October 6. /TASS/. The United States should officially accept Russia’s proposal on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), Greg Mello, a co-founder of the Los Alamos Study Group in New Mexico, has told TASS. "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin's offer to extend New START for a year is an overture that can and should be accepted without further US analysis or delay," said Mello, who is an anti-war and anti-nuclear activist. In his opinion, "the analysis that went into New START is still applicable." "It is in the interest of both parties to extend that Treaty. There is no need for ‘analysis paralysis’," Mello continued. According to him, "while there are minority voices within the US calling for uploading more warheads to existing missiles, there are no plans or real reasons to do so." "Neither is there any reason, or short-term capability, to add more delivery systems," the US activist added. However, according to him, "if the US supplies Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, Russia could well withdraw its common-sense offer to freeze strategic nuclear deployments." "Tomahawk missiles in Ukraine would be a serious strategic escalation," Mello emphasized. "To oversimplify but not by much, President Trump has to choose whether he wants to work toward peace, or take a big step toward war against Russia," the expert concluded. On September 22, Putin stated at a meeting with the Russian Security Council that Russia was prepared to continue adhering to the treaty's quantitative restrictions for another year after the New START expires in February. However, he emphasized that this measure is only viable if Washington follows suit. When asked by TASS earlier on October 5, Trump said that Putin’s proposal "sounds like a good idea." About the treaty The Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) was signed in 2010 and entered into force on February 5, 2011. The document stipulates that seven years after its entry into effect each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and strategic bombers, as well as no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers. The Treaty was signed for a term of ten years, until February 5, 2021, with a possibility of a further extension upon the parties’ mutual consent. In February 2021, Moscow and Washington extended the treaty, described by the Russian authorities as the golden standard in the sphere of disarmament, for the maximal possible five years. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21, 2023 that Russia was suspending its participation in New START but was not withdrawing from it. The president stressed that before returning to the discussion of the extension of the treaty, the Russian side wanted to understand how New START will take into account not only the United States’ arsenals but also stockpiles of other NATO nuclear powers, namely the United Kingdom and France.