MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. As of the end of 2015, Russia and the US complied with their commitments on the New Start Treaty, the head of the Russian upper house’s international affairs committee, Konstantin Kosachev, said after an annual report by the government on implementation of the treaty was discussed behind the closed doors.
Kosachev said participants in the discussion, including representatives from the Federation Council, the foreign and defense ministries, "have found exhaustive confirmation to the main conclusions of the report".
In particular, the documents "confirm the implementation of treaty's terms by the state parties at this stage," he said. "As of the end of 2015, Russia and the US were meeting their commitments on the treaty as to parameters and pace of reduction of respective strategic nuclear forces," Kosachev added.
He said data of the report made it possible to draw "a second major conclusion" - that "the current state of the Russian strategic nuclear forces ensures and guarantees the national security of the country".
The New Start Treaty was signed by the Russian and US presidents in Prague on April 8, 2010. It came into effect after the State Duma and the US Congress ratified it on February 5, 2011. It limits the numbers of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550. The number of deployed ICBMs, SLBM and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments is limited to 700. The lifetime of the treaty is ten years.
The government yearly sends to both houses of the Russian parliament a confidential report on implementation of the treaty in the preceding year.
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