WASHINGTON, May 16. /TASS/. Washington had 1,419 deployed nuclear warheads as of March 1, 2023, the US Department of State said in a fact sheet on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) Aggregate Numbers of Strategic Offensive Arms.
According to the document, as of March 1, the US had 662 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), deployed submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and deployed heavy bombers, along with 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers of ICBMs, deployed and non-deployed launchers of SLBM, and deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers.
"The Russian Federation announced a unilateral and unjustified purported suspension of the Treaty on February 28, 2023. Subsequently, the Russian Federation did not fulfill its obligation to provide updated data in March 2023 and is not implementing other key provisions of the treaty," the document reads.
"As a lawful countermeasure in response to the Russian Federation’s violation of its New START Treaty obligations, the United States did not provide its March data update to Russia. In the interest of transparency and the US commitment to responsible nuclear conduct, the United States is voluntarily releasing aggregate data for its nuclear forces covered by the New START Treaty in this Fact Sheet. This data is current as of March 1, 2023. The United States calls on the Russian Federation to return to full compliance with the New START Treaty and all the stabilizing transparency and verification measures contained within it," the Department of State said.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty but was not withdrawing from it. The head of state emphasized that before resuming discussions of further activities under the treaty, Russia needed to figure out for itself how the arsenals of NATO’s other nuclear-weapons countries, the UK and France, would be taken into account along with US capacities. Putin signed a law suspending Russia’s participation in the treaty on March 1.
Washington and Moscow inked New START in 2010. 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. Russia and the US extended the treaty for a maximum period of five years in February 2021.