Vladimir Putin submits New START treaty extension bill in Russian parliament

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday submitted a bill to parliament that would extend the New START nuclear treaty by five years.

“On January 26, 2021, Russia and the United States signed an agreement on the extension of the treaty,” read an explanatory note attached to the bill, published on the lower house State Duma website.

It said that the two sides had “agreed in principle” to extend New START by five years.

The bill was published after Putin and new US President Joe Biden held their first phone call Tuesday evening.

Following the call, the Kremlin said in a statement that the two leaders had “expressed satisfaction” over the extension talks.

It added that “in the coming days” the two sides will “ensure the further functioning of this important international legal mechanism for the mutual limitation of nuclear missile arsenals”.

Negotiations to extend the treaty had stalled during former US President Donald Trump’s tenure, with his administration insisting that China should join the deal, despite Beijing flatly rejecting the idea.

US President Joe Biden on Monday had said at a White house media conference, “I find we can both operate in mutual self-interest of our countries as a New START agreement and make it clear to Russia that we are, we are very concerned about their behaviour.”