Russia will continue to respect the limits imposed on its nuclear arsenal by the New START treaty, despite the decision to suspend this important Russian-American disarmament agreement, announced Tuesday by President Vladimir Putin.
“Russia intends to maintain a responsible approach and will continue, for the duration of the treaty, to strictly observe the quantitative limits of strategic offensive weapons,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Putin announced the suspension of Russia’s participation in the New START treaty, the latest bilateral nuclear disarmament agreement between Moscow and Washington, which had been extended until February 5, 2026.
The Russian ministry justified this decision with the “destructive actions of the United States”, which it accused of multiple violations of the text signed in 2010, which “endanger its operation”.
On the one hand, Moscow said, Washington’s “extreme hostility” and its “open commitment to a malicious escalation of the conflict in Ukraine” had created a “fundamentally different security environment” for Russia.
“The United States and the West that it leads are trying to harm our country at all levels, in all areas and in all regions of the world,” Russian diplomacy said, arguing that the “status quo is no longer possible.”
On the other hand, Russia believes that the arsenals of the three NATO nuclear powers – the United States, France and the United Kingdom – “should be combined and taken into account jointly in the process of limitation and reduction”, while New START only concerns to Moscow and Washington.
Finally, Russia claims that the fact that the United States is developing missile shield systems capable of intercepting Russian warheads makes New START ineffective.
It also accuses Washington of having “violated” the text by “renaming more than 100 United States strategic offensive weapons so that they are no longer covered by the provisions of the treaty, or by declaring them converted without giving Russia the opportunity to verify.” them”.
According to Russian diplomacy, Moscow can lift the suspension of New START if Washington shows “good faith” towards a “comprehensive de-escalation”.
Russia had already announced in early August that it would suspend planned inspections of its military sites.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, places an arsenal limit on each country of 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 missiles and bombers. The agreement provides for inspections at defined locations to demonstrate compliance.
Just days before the treaty is set to expire in February 2021, Russia and the United States agreed to extend it for another five years.
Source: TSF
