YDCC: Focusing the Message: Immediate Priorities for US-Russian Arms Control

As arms control discussions commence in the US-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue, Russia and United States should consider whether a single new arms control arrangement would be desirable, or rather if a framework of interrelated arrangements would be more conducive to success in future negotiations.

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Abstract

In addition to strategic offensive arms, three interrelated issue areas, distinct from one another but connected by technical and political considerations, should be considered as priorities: long-range precision-guided weapons, missile defense systems, and non-strategic nuclear weapons.

This paper contains an analysis of each of these three areas, including how they undermine strategic stability and present challenges to future negotiations, as well as recommendations for mitigating associated risks.

Policy recommendations

  • As arms control discussions commence in the US-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue, Russia and United States should consider whether a single new arms control agreement / arrangement would be desirable, or rather if a framework of interrelated agreements / arrangements would be more conducive to success in future negotiations.
  • In addition to strategic offensive arms, three interrelated issue areas, distinct from one another but connected by technical and political considerations, should be considered as priorities: long-range precision-guided weapons, missile defense systems, and non-strategic nuclear weapons.

Authors

  • Daria Selezneva

    Daria Selezneva is a Research Associate at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations. From January to July 2018, she was an intern at the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs in the WMD Branch, in which capacity she acted as a member of the Secretariat of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference. She holds dual Master’s degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

  • Noah Mayhew

    Noah Mayhew is a Senior Research Associate at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) where he focuses on nuclear non-proliferation, international nuclear safeguards and nuclear verification, nuclear arms control, and US-Russia relations. Since he joined the VCDNP, he has worked extensively on safeguards matters, including a focus on the State level concept for safeguards, safeguards outreach and capacity building, safeguards and naval nuclear propulsion, and other issues. He also works on US Russian arms control issues, including on questions of verification and monitoring.