President Joe Biden, in a statement on the occasion of the opening of the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, declared yesterday that the U.S. is ready to begin a new round of arms control talks with Russia. “Today, my Administration is ready to expeditiously negotiate a new arms control framework to replace New START when it expires in 2026,” he said in a statement ahead of the opening of the 10th NPT Review Conference in New York.
Not surprisingly, there’s a caveat. “But negotiation requires a willing partner operating in good faith. And Russia’s brutal and unprovoked aggression in Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and constitutes an attack on fundamental tenets of international order,” Biden went on. “In this context, Russia should demonstrate that it is ready to resume work on nuclear arms control with the United States. China also has a responsibility as an NPT nuclear weapons state and a member of the P5 to engage in talks that will reduce the risk of miscalculation and address destabilizing military dynamics. There is no benefit to any of our nations, or for the world, to resist substantive engagement on arms control and nuclear non-proliferation.”
