By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) – A senior Russian official said on Tuesday that there is no chance of extending the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in the current geopolitical environment.
Arms control is inextricably linked to the geopolitical situation, and any serious steps in this area may take place only in the presence of constructive dialogue between the contracting parties, Vladimir Yermakov, the director of the Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, told state-run TASS news agency.
"In the current situation, such prospects are not visible. Arms control is inseparable from the overall geopolitical and military-strategic situation," he asserted.
The treaty went into effect in July 1991, but New START was signed in Prague on April 8, 2010, and was ratified by both countries before entering into force on Feb 5, 2011.
On Feb 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of Moscow's participation in START, the only remaining arms control treaty with Washington, which was extended in 2021 for five years to 2026.
In response to Russia's deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, Yermakov said the West may "leave to itself its negative reaction."
"We are interested in it (the West's negative reaction) exactly to the same extent that NATO countries have been 'interested' in Russia's concerns over the US nuclear weapons deployed in Europe for decades," he said.
Yermakov pointed out that the US nuclear arms are deployed at six facilities in five European countries, although the US is not part of the continent.
Indeed, for decades, Washington has kept its nuclear weapons deployed thousands of kilometers from its national territory at military bases from which NATO countries can quickly strike strategic targets on the territory of Russia and Belarus.
"We are acting within the framework of two fraternal countries united in a Union State, the territory of which forms a single defense space," he said.
According to the official, media reports claim that Washington is mulling restoring facilities for nuclear weapons deployment in NATO countries where nuclear weapons were withdrawn after the Cold War ended.
"If the US and NATO decide to escalate further, we will assess the newly emerging risks and find ways to respond, which can take a variety of forms, including asymmetric ones," he warned.
Yermakov also voiced concern over the deployment of US weapons in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, saying Russia may reconsider its unilateral moratorium on the deployment of intermediate- and medium-range missiles depending on the types of weapons Washington places on the territories of its Asian allies.
"But it is already safe to say that the destabilizing military programs of the US and its allies are making our moratorium more and more fragile – in relation to both the Asia-Pacific region and Europe," he said.