Illustration.
On June 1 (local time), the United States Department of State issued a statement confirming that, from June 6, 1, the United States will stop providing notifications to Russia under the provisions of the Treaty, including updates on the status or location of missiles and launchers on the control list, including remote information about launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
The US government said the reason for the decision was because the Russian side had refused to organize 18 inspections a year; participate in Bilateral Advisory Committee (BCC) meetings, as well as waive the obligation to provide necessary notices and data under the New START Treaty.
The US State Department's statement assessed that, although Moscow did not have any significant activities beyond the treaty limits in 2022, Russia's refusal to allow inspections and provide notifications undermines the ability of the United States to assess Russia's nuclear deployment.
In addition to withholding notifications, the United States has also announced that it will stop facilitating New START Treaty inspections on its territory by revoking visas issued to Russian inspectors, noting that countermeasures are reversible and meet all legal requirements.
According to the statement, the US informed Russia in advance of countermeasures, and affirmed that Washington was still ready to cooperate with Russia to continue implementing the New START Treaty and was ready to work constructively with Russia to fully implement the provisions of this agreement.
The US State Department also pointed out that Russia's decision to suspend the Treaty will not prevent the US from continuing to fully support Ukraine in the context of the ongoing conflict.
At the end of February, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a law suspending participation in New START, the last nuclear control agreement between Moscow and Washington, because Washington was using this treaty to help Ukraine attack strategic locations of Russia.
At the end of May, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov also accused Washington of not complying with the counting principles set forth in New START. The Russian diplomat emphasized: “The declared figures are often fictitious or conditional. In particular, the data related to the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty recently published by the US State Department continues to be misleading due to inconsistencies in the principles of tally.
Newspaper Source (According to Sputnik)
