Moscow won't swallow Biden's START talks bait

US President Joseph Biden made an unacceptable proposal to the Russian Federation to resume START negotiations.

Biden's New START Proposal

On the eve of the 10th Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, Joseph Biden made a statement that was posted on the White House website.

Having praised himself as the pioneer of the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), Biden suggested working on the ultimate goal of the world without nuclear weapons.

Even at the height of the Cold War, he said, both the United States and the Soviet Union could work together to fulfill common responsibility to ensure strategic stability.

Therefore, the US president proposed to promptly negotiate a new arms control system that would replace START-3 after 2026.

Biden's conditions for Russia and China unacceptable

However, the US president made a few reservations that preclude the success of his suggestion…

Firstly, he demanded that the Russian Federation become a willing partner operating in good faith. According to Biden, Russia is not such today due to cause today it is not such, having carried out brutal and unprovoked aggression in Ukraine. Thus, the Russian Federation has shattered peace in Europe and constitutes an attack on fundamental tenets of international order, Biden said.

"In this context, Russia should demonstrate that it is ready to resume work on nuclear arms control with the United States," the US president wrote.

The context, which Biden demands, is impossible. Moscow must obey and retreat to positions where it was before February 24th.

Secondly, Biden demanded that China, which also has nuclear weapons, should take part in the negotiations as well.

China strongly opposes the dialogue, and the reason why is clear — the arsenals are incomparable. Director of the Department of Arms Control of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Fu Cong, said in January 2022 that China would join the negotiations when the Russian Federation and the United States cut their arsenals to a level comparable to that of China.

Putin will put forward his conditions to Biden

How can one negotiate with the United States if the Americans have pulled out from all previous treaties, including the missile defense treaty and the treaty on intermediate and shorter-range missiles (INF Treaty).

In addition, Russia is ahead of the United States in the development of hypersonic delivery vehicles. it goes about such weapons as

• Zircon missiles,
• Sarmat missile,
• Poseidon underwater drones.

Obviously, the US needs the START treaty to tie Russia's hands in the program for the development and deployment of new nuclear-capable arms systems. Washington needs to close the gap. Deception is Washington's top choice in US foreign policy. Therefore, Moscow, as it seems, will present its own conditions for negotiations on START:

• stop supporting the criminal Kyiv regime;
• lift sanctions, including from the Russian administration;
• withdraw NATO forces in Eastern Europe to 1997 positions;
• provide written guarantee of non-deployment of NATO strike forces near the Russian border.

Russia and the United States concluded the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START-3) in 2010 for a period of ten years. It provides for a reduction in the number of deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550 on each side (China has 400 warheads at most), submarine-launched ballistic missiles ​​and heavy bombers to 700 pieces. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joseph Biden extended the treaty soon after Biden took office.