US and Russia renew tensions over New START and possible missile shipment to Ukraine

First modification: 02/01/2023 – 18:34

New tensions between the United States and Russia. Washington claims that Moscow is no longer abiding by the New START Treaty, the agreement to limit the arsenals of both countries.

“Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising its rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control,” a US State Department spokesman was quoted as saying. Reuters news agency.

Washington says it wants to preserve the treaty, but relations with Moscow are at their worst in decades, partly because of the invasion of Ukraine. The situation could complicate attempts by US President Joe Biden’s administration to keep the deal in place.

The State Department spokesman added that Russia has a “clear path” to return to compliance with the agreement, allowing inspection activities, and that Washington remained willing to work with the Kremlin to fully implement the pact.

“The New START treaty continues to be in the national security interest of the United States,” the spokesman said.

The pact, signed in 2010, is the latest bilateral deal of its kind between the world’s two major nuclear powers. It limits the arsenals of both countries to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each, which is a reduction of almost 30% compared to the previous limit, set in 2002. It also sets the number of heavy bomber launchers at 800, which it is still enough to destroy planet Earth multiple times.

In January 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended it for five years. Until now, under the treaty, Moscow and Washington each had the right to conduct at least 20 mutual inspections a year.

An agreement that “cannot be isolated from the current geopolitical realities”

In August, the Kremlin suspended cooperation with inspections under the treaty, citing travel restrictions imposed by Washington, but also a massive arms delivery to kyiv. Moscow believes that the United States is trying to inflict a “strategic defeat” on it in Ukraine. Hence, I argue that the Treaty is affected by the war and the current geopolitical situation.

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov stated that “arms control cannot be isolated from geopolitical realities” and that Russia considers it inappropriate to invite the US military to its strategic installations in the current context. Antonov said that, however, Russia will respect the other conditions and limitations of the agreement.

Talks between Moscow and Washington on resuming inspections were to be held in Egypt in November, but Russia postponed them and neither party has set a new date. On Monday, Russia told the United States that the treaty could expire in 2026 without being replaced.

Asked whether Moscow could foresee no nuclear arms control treaty after 2026, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency RIA: “It’s a very possible scenario.”

Russia says long-range weapons delivery to Ukraine won’t change course of war

On the other hand, the Kremlin said on Wednesday that the possible delivery of longer-range missiles to Ukraine by the United States “would not change the course of events” and that Russia would continue its offensive at all costs.

The supply of missiles with a range of up to 150 km would lead “to an escalation of tensions, to an increase in the level of escalation,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“This would require additional efforts for us, but it will not change the course of events, the special military operation will continue,” he added.

Ukraine has been requesting hundreds of modern heavy tanks, missiles with a range of more than 100 kilometers and planes for months to carry out counter-offensives to recapture Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

The United States has provided more than $27 billion in aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

with Reuters