MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov will represent the president of Russia during the parliamentary deliberation of the proposed suspension of Russia’s participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order that was published on a government website on Tuesday.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS earlier that the decision to suspend the participation in the treaty should be endorsed by the parliament and Putin would submit the proposal in short order.
Putin said in an address to the Federal Assembly earlier on Tuesday that Russia would suspend its participation in the treaty, but won’t scrap it completely. Putin said that before returning to discussions about resuming compliance with the treaty Russia must understand how New START will account for the nuclear arsenals of not only the US, but also the UK and France, the other nuclear powers that are NATO members.
The Treaty between the United States and Russia on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) was signed in 2010 and took effect on February 5, 2011.
The document stipulated that seven years after its entry into force, each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and strategic bombers, as well as no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers.
The New START Treaty was to remain in force for 10 years, until 2021, unless replaced before that date by a subsequent agreement on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.
In February 2021, Moscow and Washington extended the treaty for five years.
On August 8, 2022 Russia notified the US it was suspending permission to inspect its facilities covered by the treaty. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated the decision was prompted by Western sanctions on Russia that were imposed following the start of the special military operation.