Russia Expects US to Facilitate Meeting of Commission on START in 2023
U.S. Marines load AGM-84D Harpoon missiles onto a F/A-18 Hornet aboard Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Iwakuni Japan, April 28, 2020.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Moscow expects that the United States will facilitate the meeting of the consultative commission on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in 2023, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.
"We expect the United States to make good-faith efforts to create conditions for holding a session of the bilateral consultative commission in 2023 and return to full-scale implementation of all the provisions of the New START," Zakharova said on Telegram.
Moscow made the decision to postpone the meeting of the bilateral commission, which was scheduled for November 29 to December 6, due to the negative Russia-US relations, the diplomat explained.
"In all directions we note the highest level of toxicity and hostility from Washington. Within the framework of the total hybrid war unleashed against us, almost every step of the United States in relation to Russia is subjected to a morbid desire to harm our country wherever possible," Zakharova said.
Signed in 2010, the New START is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between Moscow and Washington which aims to half the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers. It was set to expire last year, however, Moscow and Washington managed to find common ground and prolonged it for five more years without renegotiating the terms.
