The US accuses Russia of endangering the nuclear arms control treaty

Russia’s refusal to resume on-site inspections endangers the New START nuclear treaty and US-Russian arms control in general, the Biden administration said.

The finding was presented to Congress on Tuesday and summarized in a State Department statement. It follows months of more hopeful US assessments that the two countries would be able to salvage cooperation in limiting strategic nuclear weapons despite high tensions over Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Inspections of US and Russian military sites under the New START treaty were interrupted by both sides due to the spread of the coronavirus in March 2020. The US-Russian committee overseeing implementation of the treaty last met in October 2021, but Russia then unilaterally suspended implementation of the treaty. cooperation with the inspection provisions of the treaty in August 2022 to protest US support for Ukraine.

“Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control,” the State Department said.

The government also blamed Russia for the two countries’ failure to resume talks required under the new START treaty.

Russia’s foreign ministry said last August it had told the US it was temporarily suspending on-site inspections required by the treaty.

It said US sanctions imposed after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine had changed conditions between the two countries, alleging that the US was preventing Russians from conducting their own inspections of US sites.

The State Department denied on Tuesday that the US blocked inspections by the Russians.

It stressed that nuclear arms control efforts between the US and Russia were essential to the security of the US, its allies and the rest of the world.

“It is all the more important in times of tension when guardrails and clarity matter most,” the State Department said.