For Immediate Release: June 28, 2018
Media Contacts: Kingston Reif, director for disarmament policy, 202-463-8270 ext 104; Daryl Kimball, executive director, 202-463-8270 ext 107
President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin will meet in Helsinki, Finland July 16 to discuss how to reduce tensions between the nations across a range of issues, including nuclear arms control. It is widely expected that the future of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which will expire in 2021 unless extended by mutual agreement, and the compliance dispute over the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty will both be on the agenda.
In an interview in March, Putin voiced interest in an extension of New START or even possibly further cuts in warhead numbers. The Trump administration is conducting a review of its position on the matter.
Arms Control Association has a number of resources and experts available to shed light on what the two sides can achieve to reduce nuclear risks and what’s at stake if they fail to make progress.
QUICK QUOTES:
- "Extending New START would be an easy win for the President. It could help create a positive atmosphere for reducing tensions in the U.S.-Russia relationship without making an unwise or impractical concession to Moscow. Failing to do so, on the other hand, will limit U.S. intelligence on the scale of the Russia nuclear arsenal." —Kingston Reif, director for disarmament policy
- “Without a positive decision to extend New Start, and if the INF Treaty comes to an end, there would be no legally-binding limits on the world’s two largest nuclear superpowers for the first time since 1972, and the risk of unconstrained U.S.-Russian nuclear competition would grow.” —Daryl Kimball, executive director
- "Should the INF Treaty collapse and New START expire without replacement … the consequences for effective cooperative management of nuclear risks and for nuclear nonproliferation would be severe.” —Thomas Countryman, former assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, and chair of the ACA board of directors
ANALYSIS:
- "Urgent Steps to Avoid a New Nuclear Arms Race," Thomas Countryman and Andrei Zagorski, Arms Control Today, June 2018
- "High-Level Group Calls for Extension of New START Agreement," Statement from Deep Cuts Commission, April 2018
- "Administration to Review New START,” by Kingston Reif, Arms Control Today, April 2018
- Deep Cuts Commission Issue Brief on extending New START, by Daryl Kimball, Steve Pifer, and Anatoli Diakov, April 2018
FACT SHEETS:
- The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at a Glance, April 2018
- New START at a Glance, March 2018
- Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces Under New START, April 2018
- U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces Under New START, March 2018
- U.S.-Russian Nuclear Arms Control Agreements at a Glance, April 2018
EXPERTS AVAILABLE IN WASHINGTON:
Contact Tony Fleming, director for communications, 202 463 8270 ext 110 to schedule media interviews with any of the experts or authors noted above.