MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has published the data on the overall amount of strategic offensive arms owned by Russia and the US as of March 1, 2021.
According to the document, Russia owns 517 units of operational intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), operational submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and operational heavy bombers, while the US has 651. Additionally, Russia has 1,456 warheads deployed on ICBMs, SLBMs and nuclear warheads on operational heavy bombers, while the US has 1,357. Russia owns 767 operational and non-operational ICBM, SLBM launchers and heavy bombers, and Washington owns 800 of them.
"The information on the total amount of Russian and US strategic offensive arms is provided as of March 1, 2021, based on the notifications exchanged by the sides in March 2021 within the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in accordance with Provision 2, Section II, Part Four of the New START Protocol," the ministry said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also noted that the 800 operational and non-operational ICBM, SLBM launchers and heavy bombers declared by the US were achieved not only due to the real US arms reduction but also due to the unilateral exclusion of 56 SLBM launchers Trident II and 41 B-52H heavy bombers from the arms declared under the Treaty.
"Their reequipment was carried out in such a way that the Russian side cannot confirm that these strategic offensive arms were disabled for the use of nuclear weapons, as stipulated by Provision 3, Section I, Part Three of the Protocol to the Treaty," the ministry stated.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also pointed out that the US had renamed four missile launch facilities used for training, to fit the category of "training facilities" not specified in the New START, refusing to declare them under the Treaty as non-operational ICBM launchers. "In this way, the allowed figure in accordance with Provision 1c, Article II of the Treaty has been exceeded by 101 units," the ministry stated.