# Putin and Biden extend New START for five years

Date: 2021

## The fact

On 3 February 2021 Russia and the United States completed a five-year extension of New START, the last remaining bilateral strategic-arms treaty. [Putin](/people/vladimir-putin) had signed the Russian statute days earlier; [Biden](/people/env-person-joe-biden)’s administration exchanged notes.

## Context

Without the extension the treaty would have expired on 5 February 2021. The Duma and Federation Council had already passed the law. Putin signed the Russian side; the State Department confirmed the US note. Inspectors and data exchanges continued. He did not write the US note.

The 2010 Prague signature is a different date and a [Medvedev](/people/dmitry-medvedev) autograph. Later Russian ‘suspension’ announcements are neighbouring later instruments.

The president of the Russian Federation is commander-in-chief and can issue decrees, sign statutes the Federal Assembly has passed, and represent the state abroad. He does not write UN General Assembly resolutions, ICC warrants, or European Council conclusions.

## Evidence and sources

President of Russia carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is the same strategic-ceiling logic as SORT and New START: a completed five-year extension keeps verification and deployed-warhead limits in force. It is not a finding that later war in Ukraine was thereby constrained.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a 3 February 2021 completed five-year extension of New START by exchanged notes after a Russian statute Putin signed.

Not established: that the extension prevented any later conflict, or a unique later stockpile coefficient from that week.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Biden’s administration exchanged the US note. Inspectors continued under the treaty.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Putin and Biden extend New START for five years, not a later speech about Putin and Biden extend New START for five years.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Putin and Biden extend New START for five years on 2021-02-03 is not a licence to treat every later President of Russia communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor decree exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Putin and Biden extend New START for five years into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He signed the Russian extension law. Biden’s administration exchanged the US note. Inspectors continued under the treaty. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Vladimir Putin: https://factrail.ai/people/vladimir-putin

## Drivers

- Nuclear Escalation Risk: https://factrail.ai/drivers/nuclear-escalation-risk
- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/64949
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-nuclear-idUSKBN2A32I3

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ru-new-start-extension-2021