US Accuses Russia Of Violating Nuclear Arms Control Treaty

Russia is not fulfilling its obligations under the New START treaty.

Russia violates a nuclear arms control agreement with the US by not allowing inspections of its nuclear facilities. The US State Department spokesman said this on January 31, reports CNN.

"Russia is not fulfilling its obligations under the New START treaty on strategic offensive weapons in terms of facilitating inspection activities on its territory," the State Department spokesman said.

It is stressed that Russia's refusal to facilitate inspection activities is preventing the US from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatening the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control.

The State Department says Russia has also failed to meet its obligations to call a meeting of the Bilateral Consultative Commission in accordance with the treaty's deadline.

The State Department claims Russia can return to treaty norms if it allows inspection activities on its territory, as it has done for years under the New START treaty, and also schedules a commission meeting.

Under the New START treaty, the only active agreement to regulate the world's two largest nuclear arsenals, Washington and Moscow can inspect each other's weapons, but because of the pandemic such inspections have been discontinued since 2020.

A meeting of the Bilateral Consultative Commission on the treaty was due to take place in Egypt in late November 2022, but was cancelled. The US blamed Russia for this, and a foreign ministry spokesman in Washington said Moscow had taken the decision unilaterally.

The treaty limits the number of deployed intercontinental nuclear weapons the US and Russia can have. It was last extended for five years in early 2021, which means the two sides will soon need to start negotiations on another arms control agreement.