Toggle open close The Biden Administration recently agreed to an unconditional five-year extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the Russian Federation before it was scheduled to expire on February 5, 2021. New START restricts the number of strategic nuclear delivery systems and warheads each country can deploy, but the treaty contains significant flaws. Instead of continuing the Trump Administration’s efforts to seek improvements to the treaty, the United States received nothing in return for its agreement to extend. In fact, just days later, perhaps feeling empowered to dictate terms, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated that any future treaty must include U.S. missile defense.REF