The United States on Tuesday said that it will cease exchanging with Russia some data on its nuclear forces. According to the White House, the move is a response to Moscow suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms treaty. As per Reuters, John Kirby, the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, told reporters that since “Russia has not been in full compliance and refused to share data which we … agreed in New START to share biannually,” the US has “decided to likewise not share that data.”
Watch | Will Russia-US respect ‘new start treaty’?
He added that Washington “would prefer to be able to do (this) but it requires them (Russia) being willing to as well.”
A spokesperson for the National Security Council said that “under international law, the United States has the right to respond to Russia’s breaches of the New START Treaty by taking proportionate and reversible countermeasures in order to induce Russia to return to compliance with its obligations.”
“That means that because Russia’s claimed suspension of the New START Treaty is legally invalid, the US is legally permitted to withhold our biannual data update in response to Russia’s breaches,” they added.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin has not formally withdrawn from the New START treaty, his February 21 suspension as per Reuters imperils the last pillar of US-Russian arms control. Between them, the two nations hold nearly 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear arsenal.
The treaty was signed in 2010 and was due to expire in 2026. Under the New START treaty’s “Biannual Data Exchanges,” the two nations are required to provide a declaration of deployed strategic delivery vehicles, launchers and warheads. The number is capped at no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads and 700 land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.
(With inputs from agencies)
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