Russia stops US nuclear arsenal inspections New START treaty

Russia stops US nuclear arsenal inspections

• Russia has informed the US that it has “temporarily” halted on-site inspections of its strategic nuclear weapons.
• The US, according to the Russian foreign ministry, was looking for benefits and had denied Russia the opportunity to conduct inspections on US soil.
• It is the final agreement between the former Cold War foes to reduce their arsenals.

According to the New START arms limitation pact, Russia has informed the US that it has “temporarily” halted on-site inspections of its strategic nuclear weapons.

The US, according to the Russian foreign ministry, was looking for benefits and had denied Russia the opportunity to conduct inspections on US soil.

It said that the Ukraine crisis and US sanctions on Russia had altered relations between the two nations.

In 2011, the agreement entered into force.

It is the final agreement between the former Cold War foes to reduce their arsenals. The maximum number of long-range nuclear warheads that each nation may use is 1,550.

According to the government, the suspension was permitted by the rules of the treaty “in extraordinary circumstances”.

The suspension comes a week after US President Joe Biden declared himself prepared to cooperate with President Vladimir Putin on a new nuclear armaments pact. The existing one will run out in 2026.

The US was charged with neglecting “existing facts” such “the suspension of normal” aviation links, according to the ministry.

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Russia Suspends Arms Inspections Under Treaty With U.S.

Russia said Monday it was suspending U.S. on-site inspections under a strategic arms reduction treaty with Washington, pointing to Western sanctions and coronavirus infections.

The Russian foreign ministry said facilities that are subject to inspections under the New START treaty will be "temporarily" exempt from such inspections.

The announcement comes as ties between Russia and the United States unravel over Moscow's intervention in Ukraine and debilitating Western sanctions.

New START is the last remaining arms reduction pact between the former Cold War rivals and caps to 1,550 the number of nuclear warheads that can be deployed by Moscow and Washington.

"Russia is now forced to resort to this measure as a result of Washington's persistent desire to implicitly achieve a restart of inspections on conditions that do not take into account existing realities," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Moscow also accused Washington of seeking "to create unilateral advantages" and deprive Russia of "the right to carry out inspections on American soil."

The statement indicated it had become hard for Moscow to carry out inspections on American soil due to Western sanctions including the closure of air space for Russian planes and visa restrictions.

Moscow also pointed to a new spike in coronavirus cases in the United States.

"We believe that in the current circumstances, the parties should abandon patently counterproductive attempts to artificially speed up the resumption of START inspection activities and focus on a thorough study of all existing problems in this area," the foreign ministry said.

Last year, the United States and Russia extended New START by the maximum allowed time of five years.

Moscow's announcement came after U.S. President Joe Biden called on Russia and China to demonstrate their commitment to limiting nuclear arms.

Russia should demonstrate its willingness to renew the nuclear arms reduction pact when it expires in 2026, Biden said.

In an emailed comment, a U.S. State Department spokesman said that Washington is committed to the New START treaty, "but we keep discussions between the parties concerning treaty implementation confidential."

"The principles of reciprocity, mutual predictability, and mutual stability will continue to guide the U.S. approach to implementation of the New START Treaty," the official said.

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Russia suspends nuclear arms inspections under START treaty with US

Russia says it is "temporarily" stopping on-site inspections, pointing to Western sanctions and rising coronavirus infections in the Unites States.

START is the last remaining arms reduction pact between the US and Russia and caps to 1,550 the number of nuclear warheads that can be deployed by Moscow and Washington. (Patrick Semansky / File / AP)

Russia has told the United States it would not allow its weapons to be inspected under the START nuclear arms control treaty for the time being because of travel restrictions imposed by Washington and its allies.

Inspection conditions proposed by Washington created "unilateral advantages for the United States and effectively deprive the Russian Federation of the right to conduct inspections on American territory," the Moscow foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. 

Moscow also pointed to a new spike in coronavirus cases in the United States.

Russia remained fully committed to complying with all the provisions of the treaty, it added.

The United States and its allies, including Britain and the European Union, closed their airspace to Russian planes as part of a barrage of sanctions imposed in response to Russia's decision to send its armed forces into Ukraine in February.

READ MORE: Global spending on nuclear weapons on rise even amid Covid

New treaty

The New START Treaty, which came into force in 2011, 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.

US President Joe Biden said last Monday that his administration was ready to "expeditiously" negotiate a framework to replace New START, which is due to expire in 2026, if Moscow demonstrated its willingness to resume work on nuclear arms control.

But Russia's mission to the United Nations said Washington had withdrawn from separate talks with Moscow on strategic stability over the Ukraine conflict, and needed to decide what it wanted.

The following day, the Kremlin said time was running out to negotiate a replacement for New START, putting global security at risk.

Moscow says it was forced to intervene in Ukraine to defend Russian-speakers from persecution and avert a Western threat to use Ukraine to threaten Russia's security. Kiev and its Western allies say these are baseless pretexts for an imperial-style land grab. 

READ MORE: Why the US can't give up on Russian uranium

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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