The United States would like to resume inspections under the Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty (START, START-3) and discuss with Russia the implementation of this agreement. This statement was made on Thursday, February 23, by the Deputy Secretary of State of the United States, Victoria Nuland, in an interview Washington Post.
“We would like to get back to resuming mutual inspections and to the time when we can resume discussions on the implementation of this agreement,” she said.
On February 21, during his address to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of participation in the New START Treaty. He stressed that this is precisely the suspension, and not the withdrawal from the treaty. At the same time, the head of state said that before returning to the discussion of START, the country must understand how to take into account the nuclear arsenals of France and Great Britain.
On the same day, the head of state submitted a draft law on this to the State Duma, which was adopted on Wednesday. Then the document was unanimously adopted by the Federation Council.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the development of the situation with Russia’s suspension of START depends entirely on the United States. He also suggested that the American side may withdraw from the treaty, but it is not easy to predict its further steps.
The agreement between the Russian Federation and the United States on measures to reduce and limit strategic offensive arms was signed on April 8, 2010 in Prague. The document replaced the 1991 START Treaty. Upon entry into force, it also replaced the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty. This START agreement was worked out on a parity basis in accordance with the principle of equal and indivisible security and provided for real, verifiable and irreversible reductions in strategic offensive arms.
