With the New START treaty, the US and Russia commit to reducing their nuclear warheads. Both superpowers control each other. In the future, however, Russia does not want the Americans to look at their cards.
Russia suspends nuclear arsenal controls under New START deal with US. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the contract would continue to be adhered to.
Russia justified the measure by saying that the US wanted to resume inspections under conditions that did not take into account current realities. The government in Washington is setting conditions that the USA would unilaterally prefer. In addition, the Russian possibilities for controls in the USA would be restricted.
The New START treaty concluded in 2011 committed both superpowers to restrictions on ICBMs, submarine-launched missiles and fighter jets that can be equipped with nuclear bombs. The contract expires in 2026.
A week ago, US President Joe Biden called on Russia and China to hold arms control talks. His government is ready to negotiate a new framework agreement to replace the New START agreement. The government in Moscow must be ready to resume work on nuclear arms control with the United States, the US President said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently put his country's nuclear weapons on increased alert as a warning to NATO. At the end of April, in the midst of the war against Ukraine, he had a new Sarmat-type ICBM tested as a show of force. Putin said that for a long time there will be nothing in the world that can compare to the rocket.
According to the Sipri peace research institute, Russia (5977) and the USA (5428) together still have around 90 percent of all nuclear warheads in the world. In both cases, the number continued to decrease in 2021 - but this has mainly to do with the dismantling of discarded warheads, which the military said goodbye to years ago. In contrast, the number of nuclear weapons in useable military stocks in the two countries has remained relatively stable.
