On February 1, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Russia believes it is important New Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) remains in effect, although there is little indication that dialogue on the issue is continuing.
“We believe it is important that the treaty remains in force because it is really the only one that still exists, at least hypothetically,” Peskov told reporters.
In fact, the US has “destroyed the legal framework in the field of arms control,” Peskov said.
[Nga bác cáo buộc vi phạm Hiệp ước New START của Mỹ]
Russia made the statement following the Wall Street Journal earlier quoted a source from the US State Department as saying that Russia violated the New START treaty by not allowing the US to conduct inspections and refusing to meet with the US. to discuss compliance with this treaty.
However, commenting on Washington’s accusations, Vice Chairman of the Federation Council (Russian Senate) Konstantin Kosachev on January 31 confirmed that the US was the first party to violate.
Mr. Kosachev said: “They tried to create such conditions to be able to unilaterally exercise the right to inspect… Of course, this action is unacceptable to Russia, because of the control mechanism. provided for in the Treaty is perfectly balanced.”
Signed in 2010, the agreement New START to limit Russian arsenal and the United States at a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads, down nearly 30% from the level set in 2002.
In January 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to extend this treaty for another five years, until 2026.
So far, Russia and the US have allowed each other to carry out less than 20 inspections per year under the framework of New START.
Tran Quyen (VNA/Vietnam+)