In response to Russia’s decision to leave the New START nuclear weapons reduction deal earlier this year, the United States stated on Thursday that it would implement new measures.
Russia violated the treaty in November and officially left it in February. The nation has agreed to certain parts of the agreement but is still not providing important information about its nuclear arsenal.
The United States informed Russia in advance about the countermeasures and stated a willingness to reverse them and comply with the treaty if Russia complies, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
He added that the US is prepared to collaborate with Russia to resume implementing the New START treaty.
The COVID-19 outbreak forced investigators from the United States and Russia to halt their inspections of nuclear installations. Russia declined to resume them once the global pandemic restrictions were finally lifted.
In response, the U.S. has revoked the visas of Russian treaty inspectors and promised to withhold telemetric data on ICBM and submarine-launched ballistic missile tests.
In addition, the United States has announced that it will no longer provide Russia with updates on the status of its missiles, launchers, and other items required under the treaty.
Although with less specificity, the United States will continue to alert Russia of launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and other exercises. This is a part of two international accords made in the late 1980s.
Until at least 2026, Russia and the U.S. have agreed to abide by New START’s nuclear and other strategic offensive weapons restrictions.
According to an unnamed senior U.S. official, they are open to restrictions beyond 2026. After 2026, the structure and the kinds of restrictions remain undetermined.
In a display of extreme sanity, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan agreed in 1985 that a nuclear war could never be won and must never be fought.
