Russia says the nuclear allies of NATO members Britain and France should also be up for negotiation – something those countries reject. At the Geneva forum, Britain said it was time for a new era of nuclear arms control that would bring China, Russia and the US to the table, adding that it shared US concerns about Beijing’s rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal.
France said an agreement between states with the biggest nuclear arsenals was crucial, at a time when there is an unprecedented weakening of nuclear norms. Arms control deals are highly complex to negotiate, and the environment has changed significantly since New START was signed in 2010.
Russia is developing so-called “exotic” new systems, including the Burevestnik cruise missile and Poseidon underwater torpedo, while Trump has promised to build a space-based “Golden Dome” anti-missile defence. Security analysts say any new nuclear agreement is likely to take years to negotiate, leaving a void in arms control at a time of heightened international tension over Ukraine, the Middle East and other flashpoints.
Some say these tensions, and the fact that Russia and the US have failed to agree or even discuss a new treaty until now, could intensify debates in countries including Japan, South Korea and Poland on whether they should seek to join the nuclear club.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; additional reporting by Dmitry Antonov in Moscow; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Friederike Heine; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
