Finance
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation suspending Russia’s participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the United States.
The law went into effect immediately after it was signed on Tuesday, and the decision to resume Russia’s participation in the treaty is up to the head of state, according to Xinhua.
Putin stated in his annual State of the Nation address to the Federal Assembly on February 21 that Russia was suspending rather than withdrawing from the New START treaty.
He also emphasized NATO’s combined strike capability, noting that Britain and France both have nuclear arsenals that pose a threat to Russia.
A day later, a bill to suspend the New START treaty was unanimously adopted by Russia’s parliament and then sent to Putin for his final approval.
The last remaining nuclear arms control treaty in force between the two nuclear superpowers, the New START, was signed in 2010 and went into effect on February 5, 2011.
The Treaty requires each party to have no more than 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 seven years after its entry into force.
On February 3, 2021, the two countries exchanged notes on the completion of internal procedures required for the agreement to extend the treaty’s term by five years to go into effect.
On August 8, 2022, Russia informed the US that it was temporarily suspending New START inspections of its facilities due to sanctions imposed on Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Source:IANS
