NATO Does Not Consider START Treaty Extension a Sign of Relations with Russia Improving

NATO welcomes and supports the START Treaty extension, but intends to continue "resisting Russia's aggressive actions, which pose a threat to Euro-Atlantic security." NATO does not assess the five-year extension of the Treaty on Measures to Further Reduce and Limit Strategic Offensive Arms (START, unofficially known as START-3) as a sign of easing tensions with Russia. The alliance "continues to clearly see the challenges that Russia poses," NATO press office stated on Wednesday, February 3. The document notes that alliance countries the intend to continue " resisting the aggressive actions of Russia, which pose a threat to Euro-Atlantic security." At the same time, NATO welcomes and supports the renewal of treaty that was expiring on 5 February. According to the statement, the alliance believes that the treaty "contributes to international stability", but considers its extension "as the beginning, not the end of efforts to combat nuclear threats and new and emerging challenges to strategic stability." Agreement entered into force Earlier in the day, Russia and the United States exchanged notes on the completion of internal procedures for a five-year extension of the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START). As stated in the Russian Foreign Ministry, the corresponding agreement entered into force on the same day. "Thus, the Treaty will operate in the form it was signed, without any changes or additions, until February 5, 2026," the Russian Foreign Ministry quotes the Interfax news agency. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made a similar statement. "The United States has concluded that the Russian Federation has complied with its START commitments annually since the treaty entered into force in 2011," the US State Department informed. The START III Treaty between Russia and the United States, signed in 2010, entered into force on February 5, 2011. It provides for the reduction of deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550 units, ICBMs, submarine ballistic missiles and heavy bombers to 700 units, and deployed and non-deployed launchers to 800 units. Former US President Donald Trump has repeatedly reproached Moscow for violating the terms of the treaty.