In accordance with a crucial arms control agreement, Russia announced on Monday that U.S. inspections of its nuclear arsenal will be suspended. Russia claimed that Western sanctions had prevented Russian monitors from conducting similar tours of U.S. sites.
It is the first time the Kremlin has stopped American inspections under the New START nuclear weapons control deal, and it reflects the rising tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia’s military activity in Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the U.S. and its allies’ sanctions on Russian flights, visa requirements, and other barriers effectively prevented Russian military experts from visiting U.S. nuclear weapons sites, giving the U.S. “unilateral advantages” when it announced the suspension of U.S. inspections.
The move received no immediate public reaction from the Biden administration. Russian action was described as “a cynical attempt to pressure the United States” over sanctions the West has placed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine by Ankit Panda, an expert on nuclear strategy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
They are essentially using New START inspections, which the United States cares about, to exert pressure on Washington, according to Panda.
Even while Moscow has closed its airspace to the 27 members of the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada — but not the United States — since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in late February, Russia asserted that U.S. inspectors have not encountered such challenges. At the time, Russia declared that exceptions will be made for the delivery of humanitarian aid and diplomatic missions.
The freeze is temporary, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, and is permitted by the agreement “in rare instances.”
Russia “highly appreciates” the New START, it was stated, and it was also mentioned that inspections might start if the issues preventing them are resolved.
The ministry emphasized the need for a “thorough study of all existing problems in this area, the successful resolution of which would allow a return to the full-scale application of all verification mechanisms of the Treaty as soon as practicable.” “Russia is fully committed to abiding by all of the provisions of New START, which we see as a crucial tool for maintaining international security and stability,” the ministry said.
The ministry stated, “We will immediately lift the exclusions from inspection activities that we have declared after the issues for the restart of inspection activities under the Treaty are resolved.
Each nation is limited to having no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers under the New START treaty, which was signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The treaty also calls for extensive on-site inspections to ensure compliance.
Russia and the United States decided to extend the New START for additional five years just days before it was set to expire in February 2021.
Security researcher Panda pointed out that the Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York, where the United States and Russia are debating continuing strategic weapons reductions, is taking place at the same time as Russia’s action.
“It’s crucial that the inspection protocols in the Treaty are completely restored at a time when nuclear threats between the two sides are far from diminishing,” he said. The pandemic took a toll on New START inspection activity, and Moscow’s regrettable move puts things in much more jeopardy.
