Latin American Summary, June 3, 2023.
If the United States abandons its hostile policy towards Moscow, Russia will return to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START III).
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the US had already informed Russia about its retaliatory measures regarding the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START III).
“The Americans warned us some time ago that such measures were being prepared. He officially warned us, although he did it to create a situation in his own way, which has become a habit of late.”
The deputy foreign minister stressed that Moscow does not accept the ultimatum and that its decision to suspend its participation in New START is unshakable “regardless of any measures or countermeasures from the US side”.
“And our very condition for returning to full operation of the treaty is the abandonment of a fundamentally hostile policy towards Russia,” he stressed.
In response to a question whether the US countermeasures launched in connection with the START treaty could aggravate the situation in the area of ​​arms control, the diplomat said that “it is already extremely serious.”
“And because of the US, many elements of the previous architecture in the region have been completely destroyed or moved to a semi-deadly state,” he stressed.
Will Moscow test nuclear weapons again?
On 1 June, the US State Department announced retaliatory measures after Moscow decided to suspend its participation in the START III treaty.
In particular, from June 1, Washington will stop providing Moscow with information on the status and location of its strategic weapons under START III. In addition, it will revoke visas issued to Russian experts to conduct inspections within the framework of the aforementioned treaty and stop transmitting telemetric information on intercontinental and submarine missile launches.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in his annual message to parliament on 21 February that Russia was suspending participation in the START III treaty. Furthermore, the Russian President made it clear that Moscow would conduct nuclear weapons tests again if the US was the first country to resume those tests.
The president noted that before resuming the debate, Moscow needed to understand “what countries like France and the United Kingdom want, and how their strategic arsenal will be considered, ie the Atlantic Alliance’s brief offensive capability”. “
The nuclear disarmament agreement, signed for an initial period of 10 years and effective since 2011, limits the strategic arsenals of the US and Russia to a maximum of 700 deployed missiles, 1,550 nuclear warheads and 800 deployed and reserve launchers.
By the decision of Moscow and Washington, the agreement was extended in 2021 for five years till February 5, 2026. Currently, it is the only arms control agreement that links two great powers.
Source: Hispantav.
