The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement that Moscow had formally informed Washington on Monday that all Russian military sites covered by the New START agreement would be “temporarily exempt” from US control. This includes missile launch bases, as well as air and naval bases where nuclear missiles have previously been deployed.
The Russian press release noted that “the Russian Federation is compelled to resort to this measure (…) due to the current realities that provide unilateral benefits to the United States and deprive Russia of its right to conduct inspections on American soil.” .
In particular, Russian diplomacy highlighted obstacles to Russian inspectors traveling to the United States and difficulties in issuing U.S. visas due to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The Russian statement stressed that “American inspectors and their aircraft crews do not have a similar problem,” adding that once the above-mentioned problems are resolved, Russia will immediately withdraw its decision announced on Monday.
The New START agreement, which limits and limits the number of nuclear weapons, set the number of deployed warheads at a maximum of 1,550 per country, a decrease of about 30 percent compared to the previous value set in 2002. The treaty set the number of missiles and launchers at 800, which is It is still enough to destroy the Earth several times.
The New START Treaty was extended by the parties in January 2021 for a period of five years until 2026. According to the treaty, Moscow and Washington will have the right to conduct about twenty such inspections annually mutually on the territory of the other party.
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