The lack of inspections makes it difficult to verify the number of warheads in Russia.
The US State Department believes that Russia violated the long-range nuclear arms reduction treaty by refusing to allow Washington to inspect the facilities.
This is stated in the report of the US State Department, which was sent to to Congress, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The authors of the material draw attention to the fact that such conclusions of the State Department are the first time that the United States accuses Russia of violating the treaty that entered into force in 2011.
The State Department report indicates that the absence of offensive arms reductions stipulated by the Agreement inspections makes it difficult to verify the number of warheads in Russia. These inspections were suspended back in March 2020 by mutual agreement amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, after the situation with the coronavirus was taken under control, the commissions were not resumed due to the decision of the Russian Federation.
“In September, Russia informed the US that it had 1,549 warheads and bombs. But without the ability to use inspections to conduct spot checks, the State Department report notes, the United States cannot say for sure whether Russia stayed within the treaty limit last year,” the WSJ article says.
At the same time the State Department said that if Moscow exceeds the maximum number of warheads, these numbers will not be militarily significant.
“Now there is not a single treaty that Russia has not violated or is not violating. The Joint Staff must proceed from the fact that Russia has violated or will violate a new treaty on the reduction of offensive weapons. I want to see plans for how the United States will react,” said the head of the committee House of Representatives for the Armed Services Mike Rogers.
Arms Control Association executive director Daryl Kimball said the difficulties could create problems for negotiations on a potential next treaty.
“New START will end in exactly 1,101 days (in 2026 – ed.). The longer Putin blocks effective cooperation with the United States on nuclear arms control diplomacy, the more likely it is that Russia's and the United States' nuclear arsenals will remain unrestricted.” for the first time since 1972“, Kimball said.
Recall that in December 2022, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that Russia is expanding and modernizing its nuclear arsenal.
According to experts, the Russian Federation has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, numbering about 6,000 warheads. Together, Moscow and Washington own about 90% of the world's nuclear warheads – enough to destroy the entire planet many times over.
In late December, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the state would improve the combat capability of the “nuclear triad” to ensure “the preservation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country”.
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