Russia-US New START Treaty Suspended, Key Implications

Russia-US New START Treaty Suspended, Key Implications

In This Article, ”Russia-US New START Treaty Suspended, Key Implications”, We Will Discuss About Context Of New START Treaty, What is New START Treaty?, Implications Of The Suspension Of The New START Treaty?, etc.

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Context Of Russia-USA New START Treaty

• In News? Ahead of the upcoming one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on February 21, 2023, President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of Russia’s participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(for Nuclear Arms Control), known as New START Treaty.
• Reason? While declaring Russia’s suspension, Russian President Putin said that West want to inflict a strategic defeat on us and claim our nuclear facilities, that’s why Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty i.e. New START Treaty.
• What Next? Though Russia has suspended its participation in the New START Treaty For Nuclear Arms Control With US, it said that it will continue to abide by restrictions.

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What is New START Treaty?

Background: The name START comes from the original ”Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty”, known as START-I, which was signed between the US and the erstwhile USSR in 1991, and came into force in 1994. START-I was lapsed in 2009, and was replaced first by the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT, also known as the Treaty of Moscow), and then by the New START treaty.

Signed? New START Treaty, signed by then US president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in 2010.

Time Frame: The New START Treaty came into force in 2011 and was extended in 2021 for five more years after Joe Biden took office.

What It Caps? The New Start treaty caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy. Together, the US and Russia own 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

Word Deploy Means? In this context, ”deploy” means ready for immediate use, rather than have in storage. Weapons kept in storage are ”non-deployed”. Warheads count as deployed if loaded onto a missile that is itself deployed.

What Are The Commitments? Under the New START Treaty agreement, Moscow and Washington are committed to deploying no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads and a maximum of 700 long-range missiles and bombers. Each side can conduct up to 18 inspections of strategic nuclear weapons sites every year to ensure the other has not breached the treaty’s limits.

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What Are The Implications Of The Suspension Of The New START Treaty?

• While the Russian Foreign Ministry has said it would continue abiding by the treaty’s restrictions, a suspension of the treaty may mean that it will be harder for the US to monitor compliance.
• Russia has already suspended mutual inspections of nuclear weapons sites and participation in a bilateral consultative commission.
• Experts say it would be a serious blow if Putin went further and stopped routine reporting and data exchange on nuclear weapon movements and other related developments.
• Prima Facie, the move is ”entirely symbolic” and most probably Putin made the announcement to pressure Biden into approaching Russia about ending the war, so Russia can dictate the terms under which that would happen.

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