Russia has notified the US that it will temporarily suspend inspections under the START nuclear weapons treaty, the country’s foreign ministry announced Monday.
“The Russian Federation is now being forced to resort to this measure as a result of the persistent desire of Washington to achieve a restart of inspection activities on short notice under conditions that do not take account of existing realities, creating unilateral advantages for the United States of America and effectively deprive the Russian Federation of the right to conduct inspections on American territory,” read a statement from the ministry.
The New START Treaty allows for 18 on-site inspections every year that allow Russia and the US to keep a close eye on each other’s nuclear weapons.
The treaty, which was extended in early 2021 for five years, limits both nations to deploying 1,550 nuclear warheads over 700 delivery systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and bombers.
According to the ministry statement, Russia is fully committed to compliance with all the provisions of the START Treaty and the suspension of inspection measures are “temporary.”
The aim is “to ensure that all the mechanisms of the START Treaty function in strict accordance with the principles of parity and equality of the parties, as was implied when it was agreed and put into force,” it said. “Now these principles are not being upheld.”
Inspections will restart “once the current problematic issues relating to the resumption of Treaty inspection activities are resolved,” said the ministry.
CNN has reached out to the US State Department for comment.
The treaty is the only one left regulating the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law extending the treaty for five years on January 28, 2021, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Washington had extended the treaty on February 3 that year.
In a statement, Blinken said the extension of the New START Treaty allowed for verifiable limits on Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers until February 5, 2026, and the treaty’s “verification regime enables us to monitor Russian compliance with the treaty and provides us with greater insight into Russia’s nuclear posture, including through data exchanges and onsite inspections that allow U.S. inspectors to have eyes on Russian nuclear forces and facilities.”
