Russian Foreign Ministry: Moscow temporarily withdraws its facilities from inspections under the DSNV-3 due to US actions
Russia has decided to temporarily withdraw its nuclear facilities from US inspections as part of the treaty on further mutual reduction of the arsenals of deployed strategic nuclear weapons. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, this measure was resorted to forcibly because of Washington's plans to restart inspection activities on "inadequate" conditions. US sanctions de facto deprive Russia of the right to conduct inspections of military nuclear facilities in the States, diplomats say.
The Russian Federation is temporarily withdrawing its nuclear facilities from inspections by American specialists conducted under the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty (START), the Foreign Ministry reports.
The decision was made, among other things, because of anti-Russian sanctions, diplomats say. They allegedly actually deprive Russia of the right to conduct its inspections in the States.
Another argument of the Russian side is the increase in the incidence of COVID-19 in the United States. A surge in infections could "jeopardize the health of Russian specialists."
"The Russian Federation is forced to resort to this measure now due to Washington's persistent desire to achieve the restart of inspection activities on conditions that do not take into account existing realities, create unilateral advantages for the United States and actually deprive Moscow of the right to carry out inspections on American territory," the report says.
The decision was made in accordance with the fifth paragraph of the first section of the fifth chapter of the Protocol to the START Treaty.
At the same time, Moscow pointed out to Washington that the sanctions violate parity during inspections on the START, but no response was received from the American side.
History of START-3
Russia and the United States signed the START-3 treaty in 2010, the document was signed then by the heads of the two states - Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. The treaty was in effect initially for ten years and provided for the reduction of deployed nuclear warheads by the parties to 1,500 units.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles, ballistic missile submarines and strategic bombers-missile carriers were supposed to leave 700 on each side. The contract expired on February 5, 2021.
However, the 45th US President Donald Trump considered START-3 unprofitable for Washington and opposed the extension of the treaty. He urged China to join the agreement. Nevertheless, under the current President Joe Biden, the START-3 action was extended until February 5, 2026.
Discussion of a new contract
On August 1, 2022, Biden said that the United States was ready to discuss with Russia a new system of control over offensive weapons. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov in response said that Moscow has repeatedly advocated negotiations with the United States on the extension of the START treaty.
In 2026, the START-3 expires. The United States and the Russian Federation began agreeing on the parameters of the new treaty, but interrupted the dialogue after the start of the military special operation in Ukraine.
Russia wants to understand whether the United States is really ready to negotiate an agreement that should replace START-3, the Russian delegation said at the NPT Review Conference.
On August 5, US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Political Affairs Colin Kohl said that Washington considers it important to start a dialogue with Moscow on extending the START Treaty until 2026.
"The Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty expires in 2026. As the year 2026 approaches, it will be important for us and Russia to begin a detailed dialogue on how to extend it, expand it or explore the possibility of concluding other agreements in the field of arms control, which will imply actions not provided for by the current agreement," said Col.
Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, who took part in the signing of the treaty as president in 2010, called the time for negotiations on the reduction of offensive weapons "the most inappropriate."
"Biden reluctantly spat out that, they say, even during the Cold War, the USSR and the United States discussed security issues and found compromises. And that a new treaty on the limitation of nuclear capabilities is needed. All this, of course, is good. Nevertheless, I will note again. Now the situation is much worse than the Cold War. Much worse! And it's not our fault. And most importantly… Do we even need it? The world has become different," the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation wrote in his Telegram channel.
Ivan Zhukovsky
