The ELN Global Briefing Call on New START Treaty, has been mentioned in Axios article. Two panelists, Elena Chernenko and Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova, were quoted as well.

What to watch: “Experts here in Russia were clearly surprised by this change of the position, because they see several possible traps for Russia in such a possible freeze,” Chernenko said on a call hosted by the European Leadership Network (ELN).

• Any alleged violations of the freeze could be treated as grounds for U.S. sanctions, she says.
• Second, a potential Biden administration could insist that the freeze be the starting point for further negotiations, rather than a clean extension of New START.

Russia is “hedging its bets,” says Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.

• This deal would remove the risk of New START’s imminent expiration and allow arms control talks with a possible Biden administration to start “from the very beginning,” rather than with a scramble to extend the deal, she says.

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