WASHINGTON, Jan 20 ― US President-elect Joe Biden will seek to extend the New START arms control treaty with Russia and will have to decide how long an extension to pursue, his choice for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said yesterday.

"We will seek to extend it,” Blinken told lawmakers. "He'll have to make a decision as president about what duration he would seek,” Blinken added, leaving open the possibility that Biden might seek to extend it by less than the maximum five years allowed under the treaty, which expires February 5.

New START restricted the United States and Russia to deploying no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads, the lowest level in decades, and limited the land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers that deliver them.

The treaty’s lapse would end all restraints on deployments of US and Russian strategic nuclear warheads and the missiles, bombers and submarines that carry them, fueling a new nuclear arms race, policy experts have said.

Democrat Biden is to take office today, replacing Republican Donald Trump. ― Reuters