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Arms Control System in the New Decade

On February 4, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion, titled “Arms Control System in the New Decade”.

The extension of the New START treaty between Russia and the United States sets a positive tone for relations between the two countries with respect to strategic stability. The extension of the agreement after Joseph Biden came to power in the United States gives the parties five years to develop new commitments. At the same time, the prolongation of the New START by itself does not solve the accumulated problems. The United States is unlikely to give up its demands to include China in future agreements, but Beijing has so far not expressed a desire to bind itself with obligations in the field of strategic weapons. The nature of strategic stability is undergoing radical changes with the emergence of new weapons, the principles of their operation and use. The very creation of contracts in this area is in permanent crisis. Virtually all arms control regimes inherited from the end of the Cold War have now been lost. Their restoration in their previous form is hardly possible, and the new design will require taking into account numerous factors and changes in political and technological realities.

How will the dialogue between Russia and the United States develop with respect to strategic stability? To what extent are new treaties in the field of arms control in demand and really possible? What could be the consequences of the final destruction of the arms control system? What are Russia’s short-term and long-term interests in the area of strategic stability? The participants in the discussion answered these and other questions.

Speakers:

  • Evgeny Buzhinsky, Chairman of the PIR Centre Board;
  • Andrey Baklitskiy, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University, PIR Centre Consultant;
  • Richard Weitz, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Political-Military Analysis, Hudson Institute;
  • William Potter, Director, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar Professor of Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Moderator: