Russia Bans U.S. from Checking Its Nuclear Arsenals, Violating START Treaty
Russia told the the United States Monday that it was halting U.S. inspection of Russian nuclear arsenals, going back on a key provision of the New START Treaty.
Russia claimed that the U.S. sanctions due to the war on Ukraine, including banning Russian aircraft, were affecting Russia’s ability to inspect American nuclear arsenals.
Russia is “forced to resort to this measure as a result of Washington’s persistent desire to implicitly achieve a restart of inspection activities on conditions that do not take into account existing realities, create unilateral advantages for the United States and effectively deprive the Russian Federation of the right to carry out inspections on American soil,” the Russian Foreign ministry said in a statement.
“As a result of anti-Russian unilateral restrictive measures taken at the suggestion of Washington, normal air traffic between Russia and the United States was interrupted, and the airspace of states that are allies and partners of the United States is closed to Russian aircraft delivering Russian inspection teams to points of entry on American territory. At the same time, there were no similar obstacles to the arrival of American inspectors in Russia,” the statement added.
The halt would be “temporary,” Moscow claimed, saying it would resume the treaty “after the existing problematic issues” are “resolved.”
New Start was extended in 2021 and is expected to last till 2026. The treaty limits the number of nuclear warheads for each country to 1,500 and allows 18 on-site annual inspections by each country.
Russia’s move adds to the tension currently surrounding U.S.–Russia relations fueled by Russia’s war on Ukraine and Russia’s detainment of basketball star Brittney Griner, who, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, is being used as a “political pawn” by Russia.
The U.S. has placed sanctions on members of the Russian government and Russia’s financial institutions and has forbidden Russian-affiliated ships from docking in American ports, as punishment for the country’s “atrocities in Ukraine.”
In May, Russia placed travels bans on nearly 1,000 Americans in retaliation against American sanctions.
