WASHINGTON – The State Department told Congress on Tuesday that Russia had failed to comply The only nuclear arms control treaty between two countries, jeopardizing the stable roots of their relationship.
The agency said Russia had refused to allow US inspectors to enter nuclear weapons facilities, an obligation under a treaty known as New START, which was renewed for five years in February 2021.
“Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important treaty rights and threatens the ability to control nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia,” the State Department said. US said in a statement on Tuesday.
It added that “Russia has also failed to comply with the New START treaty obligation to convene a meeting of the bilateral consultative committee at the treaty’s timetable.”
The State Department called on Russia to return to compliance by allowing inspectors into its territory, as it has done for more than a decade, and by agreeing to hold a session of the committee, during which officials can discuss treaty- and nuclear-related issues. arm control.
In August, Russia announced that it was suspending US inspectors’ access to its nuclear arsenal. And in November, it cancel a bilateral committee diplomatic meeting in Cairo, during which officials planned to review treaty compliance. The Committee last met in October 2021.
In August, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei A. Ryabkov, said Moscow postponed the meeting because the United States “didn’t want to take into account Russia’s priorities, they just wanted to discuss the resumption of inspections,” The state RIA said. Novosti news agency reported.
“The situation around Ukraine also has an impact,” the agency quoted Ryabkov as saying.
Following Russia’s announcement, Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, said the two countries “continued to provide statements and data notices under the treaty.”
The treaty was signed in 2010, and since 2011 it has ensured that the two countries limit their strategic nuclear arsenals to 1,500 warheads each. The treaty’s main verification mechanism focuses on reciprocal inspections, in which each country can examine data and evidence surrounding its nuclear arsenal.
When Russia suspended the inspections, it said that US sanctions against Russia after it invaded Ukraine made it difficult for its inspectors to reach the United States. The State Department said that was false.
After the pandemic began in March 2020, the two sides suspended the inspections, and US officials said they hoped to bring the operation back to normal.
The New START Agreement was scheduled to expire on February 5, 2021, but the two governments announced a five-year extension two days before that deadline. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February by the Russian military under the command of President Vladimir V. Putin made any further negotiations on arms control difficult. Since the war began, President Biden has suspended all diplomatic discussions about new arms control treaties.
New START does not cover the use of tactical nuclear weapons. American and European officials have debated whether Putin could use such a weapon in Ukraine. That thing the possibility was hotly discussed last fall in Washington and other European capitals because of specific data from intelligence agencies, but talk about it among officials has quieted down since.
In August 2019, the Trump administration announced it is terminating another arms control treaty, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces agreement, after suspending it in February of that year. The United States has accused Russia of repeatedly violating the treaty, which has been in effect since the Reagan administration. US officials also say they are increasingly concerned about China, which is not a party to the treaty, and insist they do not want their ability to deploy missiles in the Asia-Pacific region to be hindered. .
The end of that agreement made New START the only remaining nuclear arms treaty between the United States and Russia.
“The United States continues to view nuclear arms control as an indispensable means of strengthening the security of the United States, our allies, and the world,” the State Department said on Tuesday. “That’s all the more important in stressful times when balustrades and clarity are most important.”
