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US seeks to focus on bringing Russia back into compliance with New START, says diplomat

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly on February 21 that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty

WASHINGTON, March 6. /TASS/. Washington wants to focus on bringing Russia back into compliance with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) before talking about a potential renewal of the agreement, US Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price said at a briefing.

"I think your question gets far ahead of where we are and I say this because Moscow has announced its purported suspension of implementation of the New START agreement," he noted, when asked if there was any contingency planning in case Washington and Moscow failed to extend the treaty that expires in three years. "Even before that happened, we found that Moscow was in technical non-compliance with the New START treaty. So, before we start talking about what happens in 2026 and a potential renewal of the New START treaty, we want to focus on bringing Moscow back into compliance with the treaty," Price said.

"It is in the interests of the American people, it is in the interests of the people of Russia, it’s in the interests of people around the world to see to it that the two countries that possess the largest number of nuclear weapons engage in responsible behavior," he noted. "Being a responsible nuclear power is engaging in arms control, it’s engaging in talks about strategic stability just as the United States and the Soviet Union did over the course of the Cold War. Over the course of the Cold War, we had mechanisms in place to mitigate against the possibility that there would be a nuclear exchange. Ultimately, these efforts were successful and there was no nuclear exchange between nuclear powers during the Cold War. Now, the responsibility that we have as nuclear powers - the United States and Russia - is just as great," Price stressed.

He noted that Washington’s conclusion about Moscow not being in technical compliance with the treaty was based on Russia’s refusal to take part in meetings of the Bilateral Consultative Commission on the New START treaty. "There is a very uncomplicated way for Russia to come back into compliance. It needs to take part in inspections, that’s something that can happen fairly quickly and it’s something that we hope Moscow does for the sake of its citizens, for the sake of our citizens, for the sake of people around the world," the US diplomat said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly on February 21 that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty. He explained that changes were long overdue as the US was not the only country with nuclear capabilities among NATO members, and before resuming activities under the treaty, Russia needed to figure out how their arsenals would be taken into account.

The treaty was signed in 2010 and took effect on February 5, 2011. The document stipulates 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 them, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers. Moscow and Washington extended the ten-year treaty for five years in February 2021.