News
Publish date: October 19, 2008
News
Russia has been asking whether Washington is serious about replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed in Moscow in 1991, which set ceilings on the size of the Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals.
The two countries have already held extensive discussions about a post-START agreement "and we expect to continue those discussions," the State Department said in a statement.
"The parties to a START will meet in Geneva in mid-November to initiate this process."
The parties were obligated to meet no later than a year before the START treaty expires next December to begin consideration of whether or not to extend the treaty.
State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said he thought the meeting would be held at the "working level" – meaning senior officials, below cabinet level, Reuters said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this month that Washington was upsetting the nuclear arms balance by failing to offer a replacement for START. He said this was needed more than ever as the United States is planning to place elements of a defensive missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.