White House Says Peskov's Comments Show New START Seen as Mutual Interest

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s comments show that both Russia and the United States believe the New START Treaty is in their mutual interest, deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for defense policy and arms control for the White House National Security Council said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Peskov said that Russia considers the New START treaty "very important," but sees "few hints" that the dialogue on the future of the last remaining arms control treaty will continue. He also accused the United States of destroying the legal framework on arms control and security.

"Going to Mr. Peskov’s comments this morning, I think that just underscores once again that both countries continue to see arms control and the New START Treaty to be in our mutual interest," Cara Abercrombie said. "And that is a good thing."

Cara Abercrombie also insisted that Russia faces no obstacles to conduct nuclear inspections under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

"We've done everything in our power to lift any potential obstacles to Russian travel to the United States in light of the limitations imposed on Russian travel more broadly [and] globally because of its actions in Ukraine," Abercrombie said. "There are absolutely no barriers as far as we are concerned to facilitating Russian inspections."

In September, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russia and the United States were discussing resuming inspections under New START and planned to hold an in-person bilateral meeting of consultative commission soon.

In February 2021, Moscow and Washington extended the only remaining nuclear arms treaty for five more years without any renegotiation of its terms. New START is now set to expire on February 5, 2026.