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US has no doubt that Russia honors its New START obligations — Department of State

Under the treaty, the sides are to exchange information on the number of warheads and delivery vehicles twice a year

WASHINGTON, February 2. /TASS/. The US administration has no doubt that Russia will honor its commitments under the bilateral Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) by February 5, Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Thursday.

"The United States has met the central limits of the New START Treaty in August 2017. We assess at this time that Russia has also progressed toward meeting those limits. We have no reason to believe that the Russian Government will not meet those limits as well," she said.

"Moscow has repeatedly stated its intention to meet those limits on time, and we have no reason to believe that that won’t be the case," Nauert went on.

The treaty sets February 5 as the deadline for those limits.

According to the spokesperson, both countries are to exchange their data under the strategic nuclear arsenals "within the next month or so <…> as we have done bilaterally under the treaty’s terms for the last seven years."

"We hope each country will confirm the compliance of the other as soon as possible after this data exchange," she said.

Under the treaty, the sides are to exchange information on the number of warheads and delivery vehicles twice a year.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed by the Russian and US presidents in Prague on April 8, 2010 and came into force on February 5, 2011.

The New START Treaty limits the US and Russia to no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), heavy bombers and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) by February 2018.

According to the US State Department’s data of September 1, 2017, Russia currently has 501 deployed nuclear warhead delivery means and 1,561 deployed warheads. The United States has 660 deployed nuclear warhead delivery means and 1,393 deployed warheads.