Transcript
12:30 Fred Barbash-Moderator: Welcome all. Our guest today is Steven Pifer.
A former ambassador to Ukraine, Steve's career as a Foreign Service officer centered on Europe, the former Soviet Union and arms control. In addition to Kyiv, he had postings in London, Moscow, Geneva and Warsaw as well as on the National Security Council. He is focusing on Ukraine and Russia issues at Brookings.
In April, President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced they would work on a new agreement to limit offensive arms before the Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty expires in December. This week, U.S. and Russian officials met in Moscow to discuss a new strategic arms reduction treaty. Steve will discuss that with us today.
Welcome to our participants and welcome Steve.
12:30 [Comment From Jason] With the current START treaty expiring in December, what are the mail goals of negotiations between the US and Russia? What can we hope to achieve with a new treaty?
12:30 Steven Pifer: The main goals for the negotiation which began yesterday in Moscow are to get an agreement that reduces U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons and preserves the verification and transparency measures in the START treaty. We do not want to lose the strategic arms control framework when the START treaty expires in December.
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