Moscow hasn't formalized suspension of New START: Washington

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
27 Feb 21:50

Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Mallory Stewart said the Washinton is still receiving notifications from Moscow as recently as today in regards to the treaty

President Barack Obama, left, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START treaty at the Prague Castle in Prague on April 8, 2010 (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Mallory Stewart said the US is still awaiting word from Russia formalizing Moscow's decision to suspend their membership in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

“We haven’t received any formal notifications with respect to the treaty that suspends additional notifications,” Stewart told the Brookings Institution in an interview. “The suspension hasn’t been officially affected yet, in the sense that we’re still receiving notifications as recently as today under the treaty - regular notifications - but we expect that as soon as that suspension has been formalized, that those will stop pursuant to what we’ve heard from our Russian colleagues.”

Stewart said that Washington is liaising with Russia in an effort to get a better understanding of the situation.

Stewart added discussions of developing the treaty are preconditioned by the two parties' compliance with the treaty in the first place.

The US is fumbling to get Russia back into compliance with the treaty by trying to explain how it is to their advantage to comply, Stewart added.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message to the Federal Assembly that Russia was suspending its participation in the Russian-US New START treaty.

He explained that the US has issued an intolerable ultimatum to Russia on the New START treaty: Moscow must comply with the document's requirements, while Washington will do whatever it wants.

On February 21st, The speaker of the Russian parliament's lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, announced that the bill to suspend Russia's participation in the New START treaty had been submitted to the State Duma.

On February 22nd, the bill was approved by the Duma (lower house) and was then sent to the Federation Council (upper house) for a second approval.

The Federation Council (upper house) unanimously passed the presidential bill on suspending the New START treaty, making Russia's position on the new START treaty official.