'US-Russia arms deal non-extension fatal for stability'

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday warned against dire consequences if a strategic arms control treaty with the U.S. was not extended.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) is the last bilateral treaty with the U.S. in arms control and is considered the pillar of international security.

"Surely, strategic stability will be fatal at the global level, because, in fact, all of us -- I mean humankind -- will remain without a single document that would regulate this area," Peskov said.

In the last three decades of the Cold War following the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union and the U.S. were one step away from a full-scale nuclear war, the two countries signed a number of arms control agreements marking the transition to a safer and more secure world.

The START I signed in 1991 and New START signed in 2010 obliged Moscow and Washington to decrease their nuclear arsenal, resulting in the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons on both sides.

The New START expires in 2021. It can be extended for another five years.

Peskov also said prolonging the New START was raised by President Vladimir Putin in talks with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, however, the U.S. so far has “shown no signs” to discuss the treaty’s future.

Earlier this month, both Russia and the U.S. withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF), a landmark missile control treaty, stoking fears of a fresh arms race in the world.