On 17 March 2009, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia would begin to rearm Russia`s nuclear arsenal “on a large scale”. President Medvedev accused NATO of continuing expansion close to Russia`s borders and ordered that this rearmament begin in 2011 with enhanced capabilities of the army, navy and nuclear energy. In addition, the head of Russia`s strategic missile forces, Nikolay Solovtsov, told news agencies that Russia would begin deploying its next-generation RS-24 missiles after the START-1 contract with the United States expires on December 5. Russia hopes to amend the START-1 treaty with a new agreement. Tensions have escalated despite warming U.S.-Russian relations in the two years since U.S. President Barack Obama took office. [20] Without the treaty, experts say, each side could build and use without unrestrained nuclear weapons, leading to a spiral, costly and potentially dangerous arms race. On August 9 in Omaha, Rose Gottemoeller, Current Secretary of Arms Control and International Security, updated participants at the U.S. Strategic Command 2012 Deterrence Symposium on the Implementation of New START. She praised the verification system put in place for New START to “ensure the predictability and mutual trust that will be essential for future nuclear energy reduction plans.” In the past, Russian officials have made a large number of requirements to negotiate such a treaty. They made the withdrawal of non-strategic nuclear weapons from the United States of Europe (about 150 nuclear gravity bombs). They also stressed that the United States must address Russian concerns about conventional long-range and precision strike systems and missile defense. However, questions remain unanswered.
The Russian statement shows that Moscow is ready to make a one-year freeze on nuclear warhead numbers as a political commitment. It is not clear that, beyond this freeze, Russian officials are prepared to negotiate a legally binding and verifiable treaty that would limit all nuclear warheads that would be in force for several years (New START is in force for 10 years, with the possibility of extending its extension for a further five years). However, on 29 October, the Chairman of the Duma`s Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, requested the return of the document to the Committee hearings and found that the agreement did not limit US missile defence activities, as well as the fact that ballistic missiles equipped with non-nuclear warheads are not covered by the agreement. At the same time, the President of the Federation Council, Sergei Mironov, proposed not to rush the amendment or vote on the treaty and to monitor discussions in the US Senate. There is hope that the latest nuclear weapons pact between the United States and Russia can be extended after Washington has said it wants to reach an agreement immediately. If Russia`s adoption of a one-year freeze means that the Trump administration has succeeded in persuading Moscow to negotiate a treaty limiting all U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons, it is a laudable breakthrough. Indeed, a treaty covering nuclear weapons of both sides has long seemed to be the next logical step after New START (President Obama proposed such a negotiation in 2010).