In an interview on Sept. 20 in which he sounded more like a Mafia enforcer than a diplomat, Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea told Russian business daily Kommersant that the U.S. is ready to conclude a presidential memorandum with Russia on the question of extending the treaty and that Washington is prepared to allow the New START treaty to expire this coming February should Washington and Moscow fail to conclude a memorandum, because the treaty puts detrimental additional restrictions on the United States, reported Sputnik. According to Billingslea, Washington has offered Moscow the opportunity to conclude an agreement resembling a treaty on arms control that would not require ratification before the New START treaty is extended, Billingslea stated.
And if Russia refuses? Moscow can expect to be offered worse terms at the negotiating table if Trump is re-elected on Nov. 3, he said. Billingslea then upped the ante further, according to a report in RT, stating that if an agreement is not reached by Feb. 5, 2021, America will abandon the treaty entirely and press ahead with modernizing its nuclear arsenal. “Russia has largely completed its modernization of its nuclear arsenal,” he said. “We are just starting ours. And we will be extremely happy to continue it without the START restrictions.”
