On March 22, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion, titled “A World Without START: What’s Next?”
In late February, Russia officially suspended its participation in the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START). This document was fundamental in the field of ensuring strategic stability and global security. However, non-compliance with the treaty by the United States, as well as attempts by Kiev to strike Russian strategic aviation facilities with the assistance of Washington, made the further operation of the treaty meaningless. Moscow does not rule out the possibility of resuming its participation in the treaty, but only if the US and NATO abandon the goal of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia.
For two decades, the United States has consistently undermined the architecture of the arms control system. START was the latest in a series of bilateral agreements that formally held back the two major nuclear powers from entering a new arms race. However, the policy of the West, which on the whole is aggressively anti-Russian, is incompatible with the preservation of the system of global nuclear security.
How will the suspension of Russia's participation in START affect global security? Under what conditions can the treaty be renewed? Is it possible to work out a new treaty in the field of strategic arms reduction in the future? How likely is it to conclude a multilateral agreement with the participation of other countries of the “Nuclear Club” – France, Britain and China? Participants in the discussion will try to answer these and other questions.
Speakers:
- Sergei Ryabkov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
- Dmitry Trenin, Research Professor, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Leading Researcher, IMEMO RAS
- Evgeny Buzhinsky, Lieutenant General (ret.), Chairman of the PIR Centre Council
- Robert Legvold, Marshall D. Shulman Professor Emeritus, Columbia University, and Director of the Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative
Moderator:
Working languages: Russian, English.