Putin decrees to start dialogue with the US on extending New START 

Russian President Vladimir Putin today ordered the foreign ministry to start talks with the United States on extending the last nuclear disarmament treaty in force between the two countries, New START, following his conversation with US President Joe Biden the day before. 

"The decree, published on the Russian government's legal information portal, reads: "To instruct the Russian Foreign Ministry to conduct talks with the US side on signing this international agreement. 

The presidents of Russia and the US agreed the day before to extend the treaty, which was due to expire on 5 February, the Kremlin said. 

Putin appointed Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Riabkov as the official representative of the Russian presidency during the process of ratifying the extension of the agreement in the Russian Federal Assembly.  

For his part, Riabkov told reporters that the agreement will be signed "for five years without preconditions, without any annexes". 

"On our terms," he said, noting that the extension of the agreement is a mutually beneficial decision that will allow for in-depth bilateral talks on strategic stability. 

The draft extension sent by Putin to the Federal Assembly has already received preliminary approval from the Defence and Security Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Senate (upper house), as well as the Defence Committee of the Russian Duma (lower house), according to Interfax. 

The extension of New START was the focus of the first telephone conversation between the presidents of the two countries on Tuesday. 

After the call, the Kremlin claimed that the two leaders reached an agreement to extend the treaty for five years, but the White House has not yet confirmed this and says the two sides are still negotiating to unify positions before it expires. 

Specifically, in a statement, the Kremlin said the two sides reached an "agreement" and that "in the coming days" all necessary procedures will be completed to ensure the extension of New START. 

Putin had in recent months persistently called for dialogue with the US to extend the treaty "even for one year". 

He assured that Moscow is open to including in the negotiations the new hypersonic weaponry developed by Russia, which, he insisted, is "unparalleled" in the world and capable of overcoming the US missile shield. 

New START, signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague by then US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits the number of strategic nuclear weapons, with a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 ballistic systems for each of the two powers, on land, at sea or in the air. 

The previous US administration insisted on China's participation in the negotiations, which Beijing rejects and Moscow never supported. 

Russia in turn has said that France and the UK, the other two declared nuclear powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council, should in any case be included in the negotiations.