Advertisement
Advertisement
Russia
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
A Russian Topol M intercontinental ballistic missile launcher rolls along Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow in May 2017. Photo: AP

US accuses Russia of violating New START nuclear treaty

  • Washington says Moscow is refusing to allow inspection activities on its territory
  • The deal is the last major pillar of post-Cold War nuclear arms control between the two countries
Russia

The US on Tuesday accused Russia of violating the New START Treaty, the last major pillar of post-Cold War nuclear arms control between the two countries, saying Moscow was refusing to allow inspection activities on its territory.

The treaty came into force in 2011 and was extended in 2021 for five more years. It caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.

The two countries, which during the Cold War were constrained by a tangle of arms control agreements, still account together for about 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear warheads.

Washington has been keen to preserve the treaty but ties with Moscow are the worst in decades over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an element that could complicate attempts by US President Joe Biden’s administration to maintain and reach a follow-on agreement.

02:01

Atomic scientists set ‘Doomsday Clock’ closer to midnight than ever before as nuclear threat rises

Atomic scientists set ‘Doomsday Clock’ closer to midnight than ever before as nuclear threat rises

“Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control,” a State Department spokesperson said in emailed comments.

Moscow in August suspended cooperation with inspections under the treaty, blaming travel restrictions imposed by Washington and its allies after Russian forces invaded neighbour Ukraine in February last year, but said it was still committed to complying with the provisions of the treaty.

The State Department spokesperson added that Russia had a “clear path” for returning to compliance by allowing inspection activities, and that Washington remains ready to work with Russia to fully implement the treaty.

“The New START Treaty remains in the national security interests of the United States,” the spokesperson said.

Russia halts US inspections of its nuclear arsenals

Talks between Moscow and Washington on resuming inspections under New START were due to take place in November in Egypt, but Russia postponed them and neither side has set a new date.

On Monday, Russia told the United States that the treaty could expire in 2026 without a replacement because it said Washington was trying to inflict “strategic defeat” on Moscow in Ukraine.

Asked if Moscow could envisage there being no nuclear arms control treaty after 2026, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the RIA state new agency: “This is quite a possible scenario.”

The United States has supplied more than US$27 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the invasion, including more than 1,600 Stinger anti-aircraft rocket systems, 8,500 Javelin anti-tank missile systems and 1 million 155mm artillery rounds.

2