Russia and the United States struck a deal to extend the New Start nuclear arms control treaty, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
The move preserves the last major pact of its kind between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.
President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the issue by telephone and agreed that their teams work urgently to complete the extension by February 5, when the treaty expires, the White House said.
Signed in 2010, the New Start (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is a cornerstone of global arms control.
It limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads held by the US and Russia to 1,550 each as well as the number of land and submarine-based missiles and bombers that deliver them.
The Kremlin declared the breakthrough, which was widely anticipated, in a statement saying Mr Putin and Mr Biden had spoken for the first time since Mr Biden took office on January 20.
Moscow and Washington failed to agree an extension under former US President Donald Trump, whose administration wanted to attach conditions to a renewal which Moscow rejected.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin and Mr Biden “expressed satisfaction” that diplomatic notes between the two nations had been exchanged, confirming the pact would be extended and that procedures required for it to come into force before it expires would be completed in the coming days.
The White House, in its description of the call, did not say an agreement had been reached or that diplomatic notes had been exchanged, although its tone was upbeat.
“They discussed both countries’ willingness to extend New Start for five years, agreeing to have their teams work urgently to complete the extension by February 5,” the White House said. “They also agreed to explore strategic stability discussions on a range of arms control and emerging security issues.”
A US official said the plan was for the exchange of notes to occur on Tuesday.
Asked why Washington had not explicitly said an agreement had been reached, a second US official said some steps were needed, including approval by the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament. The treaty itself does not require legislative approval for an extension.
The White House said last week that Mr Biden would seek a five-year extension.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin had told Mr Biden a normalisation of relations between Moscow and Washington would be in both countries’ interests.
It said the two leaders had also discussed the US decision during Mr Trump’s administration to exit the Open Skies treaty. Mr Putin and Mr Biden also talked about Iran’s nuclear programme and the conflict in Ukraine.
The White House stressed it would raise matters where it disagrees with Russia, and said Mr Biden had reaffirmed Washington’s “firm support for Ukraine’s sovereignty”.
Mr Biden had raised “other matters of concern”, including the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the cyber hack blamed on Russia that used US tech company SolarWinds Corp as a springboard to penetrate federal government networks, and reports that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan.
"President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defence of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies," the White House said.
