The U.S. government has rejected a proposal to extend a weapons control treaty unconditionally.

Moscow, October 16 (RHC)-- The U.S. government has rejected a proposal to extend a weapons control treaty unconditionally.  White House National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien issued a statement in Washington after Moscow made the offer earlier Friday morning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed that Russia and the United States extend the New START nuclear arms control treaty without any preconditions for at least one year.  Putin made the proposal in a video call to a meeting of the Russian Federation’s Security Council on Friday.

He stressed that the treaty between Moscow and Washington had worked effectively so far, adding that it would be “extremely sad” if it were to collapse.  “In this regard, I propose… extending the current treaty without any conditions for at least a year so that meaningful negotiations can be conducted on all the parameters of the problems,” the Russian president said.

The New START, which expires in February 2021, is the last major nuclear arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington that puts a limit on the number of strategic nuclear warheads each of the countries can have.  The U.S. and Russia signed the accord in 2010 and agreed to reduce the number of their strategic nuclear missiles by half and restrict the number of their deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550.