Washington Mulling New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty Extension Past 2021

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States has not decided yet whether it will extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia, the US deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy said.

"We say in the NPR [Nuclear Posture Review] that we will live by the treaty. We haven’t made a decision yet," Robert Soofer told RIA Novosti in response to whether the treaty would be extended by another five years.

The nuclear arms reduction treaty was signed by the United States and Russia in 2010 and came into effect the following year. It is due to expire in 2021.

Under the terms of the deal, both nations were to cut by February 5, 2018 the number of deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments, as well as nuclear warheads on them.

The United States has claimed it met the obligations back in August 2017, but Russia has argued that it cannot confirm this.

Earlier, US State Department announced it was looking forward to continuing implementation of the agreement with Russia. The department's spokesperson Heather Nauert noted that according to the recently released US Nuclear Posture Review, arms control “can contribute to U.S. security by helping to manage strategic competition among states.”