Tom Cotton Claims Joe Biden Gave Vladimir Putin ‘Exactly What He Wanted’ On His First Day In Office

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas slammed President Joe Biden for reversing the previous administration’s policies on Russia.

Biden announced that he will seek a five-year extension to the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) agreement between the United States and Russia.

“This is a very bad decision,” Cotton said, arguing that the Biden administration’s actions could jeopardize American national security because the agreement is “one-sided” and favors Russia over the United States.

Cotton ripped into Democratic Party politicians for endorsing Biden’s initiative after spending four years alleging that former President Donald Trump colluded with Vladimir Putin and Russian government officials to defeat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

“After four years of the Democrats beating their chests about Russia and continuing on and on about the Russia collusion hoax, they’ve now gone back to their old, weak, dovish ways of appeasing Russia,” Cotton said, suggesting that the move will do nothing but help America’s greatest adversaries.

“We are at the risk of facing nuclear overmatch by the combined nuclear forces of Russia and China, and it was a terrible decision of the Biden administration to fold their cards and give Vladimir Putin exactly what he wanted on their very first day in office.”

Cotton added that START “ties one hand behind America’s back,” but allows Russia to develop “more sophisticated” systems, tactical weapons and new technologies that the Kremlin has openly boasted about.

Signed in 2010 by former President Barack Obama and his then-Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, START is the only remaining arms treaty between the two nations. It proposes on-site inspections to verify compliance by both sides and limits each country to no more than 700 deployed missiles and bombers and 1,500 nuclear warheads.

Trump refused to seek an extension to the landmark agreement, which expires on February 5, issuing a long list of demands for Russia to meet.

During the 2020 campaign, Biden repeatedly accused Trump of crafting U.S. foreign policy to benefit Putin’s regime.

As NBC News reported, experts and analysts expect the Democrat to be more aggressive toward Russia than his predecessor and curb its influence and covert operations in the West.

Biden is also expected to impose new sanctions on Moscow for meddling in other nations’ elections and violating human rights at home. He may also seek to expand NATO and limit Russian influence in Ukraine.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, some believe that Biden will try to counter the Kremlin in Syria, where the U.S. supports militia forces opposed to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.