On Tuesday, October 13, with the presidential election in less than 20 days, a plan proposed by the American government to extend the New START Treaty was rejected by the Russian government. The plan aimed to reduce the number of nuclear arms in exchange for Russia ceasing production of nuclear bombs, thereby decreasing the size of their arsenal. These rejected American efforts of arms control could impact the election.
The New START Treaty was introduced in 2010 as an attempt to control nuclear weaponry and prevent a nuclear apocalypse from occurring. This treaty is set to expire in February 2021, which is why American Envoy Marshall Billingslea believed this treaty should have been extended. If an agreement had been reached with the Russians, it would have made Trump seem like he saved the American people, and thus, encourage others to vote for him.
Billingslea and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Rybakov met in Helsinki in early October. It was here that the American Envoy first proposed the plan. Rybakov, however, deemed the deal “unacceptable,” believing that the “freezing” of their arsenal would have been a persistent threat to Russia and that this issue shouldn’t be discussed just with Russia, but with other nuclear superpowers.
Rybakov mentioned that there won't be any agreement on arms control just so America can have its elections. He declared Billingslea shouldn’t report to Trump about having reached an agreement just so that Americans have a sense of security. On the other hand, the American Envoy told CNN that Putin had accepted the proposition and that the Russian Foreign Minister was supposed to tell him the news at the meeting.
In spite of the current status, the Trump administration had originally opposed extending the treaty, calling for a discussion between America, Russia and China instead. It has been consistently rejected by Xi Jinping, president of the Chinese Communist Party. Pressure from President Trump and the upcoming elections has now caused Billingslea to call for a new meeting between the current two nuclear superpowers, believing that if this meeting comes to a consensus, it should lead to similar meetings with other superpowers.
Billingslea announced that the Americans would impose new measures to make the Russians abide by the rejected plan. He believes that “everything … with the Russians must be framed and must be formatted in a way” so that Russia agrees to the old plan. The Envoy stated that if the new measures work, then the Americans can begin negotiating with Jinping and other nuclear superpowers to discuss their arsenals as well.
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