On May 15, the U.S. Congress voted to suspend U.S. funding for the implementation of the New START Treaty until Russia returns to compliance with the INF Treaty and the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). “A simple five-year extension would give the new president a quick victory and positive momentum, help restore U.S. credibility on arms control issues, and create the potential for more ambitious steps to reduce the nuclear threat and move closer to a world without nuclear weapons.” “While we work with Russia to advance U.S. interests, we will also work to hold Russia accountable for its opposing actions and human rights violations,” Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said in a statement. The morning of the 6th. In July 2009, the agreement on the text of the “Joint Understanding on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms” [29][30] was announced, signed by Medvedev and Obama during the US President`s visit to Moscow on the same day. The document lists the intention of both sides to reduce the number of nuclear warheads to 1,500-1,675 units, as well as their delivery weapons to 500-1,100 units. [31] Russia denies violating the agreement and has expressed its own concerns about Washington`s compliance with the agreement. Moscow has accused the United States of deploying a missile defense launch system in Europe that could also be used to fire cruise missiles, using targets for missile defense tests with characteristics similar to intermediate-range missiles banned by the INF Treaty, and producing armed drones equivalent to ground-based cruise missiles.
On the 20th. In October 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intention to “cancel” the deal, citing Russia`s non-compliance and concerns about Chinese missiles, and on December 4, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was a “material violation” of the treaty. The Trump administration officially informed the other signatories in February. 2 that it would suspend its obligations under the treaty and withdraw from the agreement in six months – under the terms of the treaty – and “terminate” the agreement unless Russia returns to compliance by eliminating its ground-based 9M729 missiles. In March 1997, Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin agreed on a framework for start iii negotiations that included a reduction in the number of strategic warheads deployed to 2,000 to 2,500. At the time of the announcement, Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana was the only Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to openly support the treaty. The announcement of the postponement of the vote was accompanied by a statement by President Obama that the administration remains optimistic that the deal could go through the Senate by the end of the year. On 7 April, the Russian Federation issued a unilateral statement on missile defence, expressing its view that the treaty “can only be effective and viable under conditions under which there is no qualitative and quantitative upgrade of the capabilities of the US missile defence system”. In response, the United States issued a unilateral statement on missile defense, exposing the position that U.S.
missile defense systems are not designed to compromise the strategic balance with Russia. The United States has also issued a unilateral statement on TRIDENT I SLBMs stating that Trident I SLBMs are not SLBMs of an existing type within the meaning of the Treaty. These three unilateral declarations are not part of the treaty and are not legally binding. The treaty, signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and provides for comprehensive field inspections to verify compliance. On October 1, the United States released the latest figures on strategic weapons related to the New Start Treaty. This report shows that the number of strategic warheads stationed in the United States, now 1538, has fallen below the 1550 limit set in the treaty. Conversely, since the last report in July 2015, the Russian Federation has increased its nuclear arsenals. Their number of ICBMs, SLBMs and heavy bombers deployed increased from 515 to 526.
In addition, the reported number of warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and deployed heavy bombers increased from 1582 to 1648. Biden`s plans for possible punitive measures against Russia at the beginning of the administration are unique among his recent predecessors, all of whom sought to turn a new page with the Kremlin in hopes of fostering a more productive relationship. Russia has long proposed extending the pact without conditions or changes, but the Trump administration waited until last year to begin talks, conditioning the extension on a number of demands. Talks have stalled and months of negotiations have failed to narrow differences. Russia and the United States announced plans to extend the deal last week, although the Biden administration has stepped up criticism of Russia for its detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, its alleged involvement in a massive hacking of the U.S. government and other issues. Kremlin says Russia and the U.S. exchanged documents to extend their latest nuclear arms control pact days before it expires On Feb. 21, Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller issued a statement on priorities for new arms control negotiations in the post-New START era at the fifth annual nuclear deterrence summit. of the Exchange Monitor. It welcomed the ongoing bilateral advisory commission and the resolution of the problems of implementation of New START, and urged continued negotiations on issues such as non-strategic weapons, the Fissile Material Reduction Treaty (FMCT) and the progress made in opening multilateral nuclear disarmament talks. “In the coming days, the parties will complete the necessary procedures that will ensure the continued operation of this important legal international instrument for nuclear arms control,” the Kremlin said.
With the announcement of the withdrawal of the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, there has been considerable concern about the possibility of a new extension start. [78] On June 12, Andrea Thompson, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met for the first time since 2017. [79] These discussions focused on the importance of negotiating a multilateral treaty involving China, France and the United Kingdom. On March 12, however, White House defense policy coordinator Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall defused that accusation, saying, “We see no reason why the tensions that exist over Ukraine should in any way hinder the path to fulfilling the commitments we have made with the Russians to reduce nuclear weapons on both sides.” On April 13, the State Department announced that a team of U.S. inspectors had arrived in Russia for the first on-site inspections of the country`s nuclear facilities. A Kremlin reading of a phone call between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin said the two leaders expressed satisfaction with the exchange of diplomatic notes on the renewal of the New START Treaty. .
