President Biden To Seek Five-Year Extension Of Key Nuclear Arms Treaty With Russia

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The Biden administration will seek a full five-year extension of a key arms control treaty between the US and Russia, according to a US official.

The New START Treaty expires in just over two weeks on February 5.

CNN previously reported that Biden advisers indicated that the administration would not seek a shorter extension on the landmark deal.

President Joe Biden has expressed support for extending the deal with Russia and using it as a foundation to pursue future arms-control arrangements.

Secretary of State-designate Antony Blinken said during his confirmation hearing Tuesday that President Joe Biden intended to seek an extension of the treaty, but suggested he had not made a decision on the length of that extension.

The secretary of state-designate noted that Biden “couldn’t really engage” on the issue during the transition because he was “very cognizant of the fact we have one president at a time.”

Blinken told lawmakers that he believes “this is something that we will be coming to you on pretty much immediately as soon as the President is sworn-in, and I know that he does intend to seek an extension, and he’ll have to make a decision as President about what duration he would seek.”

The Trump administration went back and forth with the Russians on the terms of a shorter extension to the longstanding treaty after efforts to create a new trilateral treaty with Russia and China failed.

This story is breaking will be updated.