The decision to suspend Russia’s participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START-3) is “reversible” and in order to return to it, the United States must make efforts for a general de-escalation and create conditions for the resumption of the full functioning of the treaty. This is stated in the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“We urge the American side to do just that. Until then, any of our steps towards Washington in the context of START are absolutely excluded, ”the ministry said.
Russia will comply with START III limits on the number of strategic offensive weapons, and will continue to participate in the exchange of notifications with the United States on launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the report said.
On the suspension of Russia’s participation in START-3, President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21 during his message to the Federal Assembly. He attributed this decision to Washington’s rejection of Moscow’s requests to inspect American facilities under the treaty, as well as to the desire of the United States and NATO to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia.
The US policy, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, is aimed at undermining Russia’s national security, which directly contradicts the START-3 preamble, which speaks of the parties’ commitment to the principle of indivisible security and building relations based on mutual trust and cooperation. The current circumstances, the ministry points out, are fundamentally different from those that existed at the time the document was signed.
“In such an environment, it is no longer possible to conduct business with the United States and the West in general as usual, both in principle and in relation to the field of arms control, which is inseparable from geopolitical and military-strategic realities,” the ministry said. .
Source: Rosbalt
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