NEWSWATCH: “White House Must Extend New START Arms Control Treaty with Russia; Statement by Lisbeth Gronlund, Global Security Program” – Union of Concerned Scientists

October 1, 2017 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Nuclear, Missile Defense, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

“… New START – gives the United States and Russia until February 2018 to reduce their deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550. It is set to expire in early 2021, but can be extended for another five years …. Trump suggested he would scrap it because he believed it favored Moscow. But … administration officials said last week that the White House is open to extending it. * * * … Lisbeth Gronlund, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists [states:]

‘This is a deal that President Trump should love. It limits the number of Russian nuclear weapons that can reach U.S. soil and allows for inspections of Moscow’s nuclear forces to ensure it’s abiding by the treaty. Without this accord, that monitoring would disappear.

… it makes us safer by reducing the nuclear threat and by providing much-needed stability to the U.S.-Russia relationship. …'”