Contrary to Putin’s announcement
Kremlin: Russia continues to adhere to nuclear weapons limitation
02/21/2023, 7:09 p.m
Only a few hours earlier, Russian President Putin announced the suspension of the New Start treaty. But now the Russian Foreign Ministry is partially backtracking: Russia stands by the disarmament agreement – at least as far as limiting the arsenal of weapons is concerned.
Russia will continue to abide by the limits on its nuclear arsenal under the agreement, government officials said, despite President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of the suspension of the New Start treaty with the United States. “In order to maintain a sufficient degree of predictability and stability in the field of nuclear missiles, Russia intends to adhere to a responsible approach and will strictly comply with its planned quantitative limits on strategic offensive arms for the duration of the contract,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The contract is valid until 2026.
Putin said in his State of the Union address that Russia was suspending its participation in the New Start treaty. He called on the Russian authorities to be ready for nuclear weapons tests if Washington were to conduct such tests first. Putin’s main reason for suspending “New Start” was that France and Great Britain, for example, were further developing their nuclear arsenals and aligning their nuclear potential against Russia. Putin also saw statements by NATO about “New Start” as interference and a reason to reconsider the treaty.
In theory, the suspension of “New Start” could also be reversed, Moscow said. “To do this, Washington must show the political will to work conscientiously for a general de-escalation and to create conditions for the resumption of the full functioning of the treaty (…).” With their signing, Washington and Moscow committed to reducing their nuclear warheads to a maximum of 1,550 each and limiting their launch vehicles and heavy bombers to a maximum of 800.
However, the treaty not only limits the nuclear arsenals of both countries, but also regulates the control options. It stipulates that Washington and Moscow can share information about their strategic nuclear arsenals and conduct up to 18 verification visits per year. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not comment on this element in its recent announcement. However, the agreement on mutual inspections has been suspended since last summer. Russia complained that it was no longer able to make inspection trips to the USA because of the sanctions imposed as a result of the Ukraine war, and for its part canceled western inspections.