WASHINGTON, August 2. /TASS/. Washington is poised to observe the restrictions imposed by the Russian-US New START treaty on the further reduction of strategic offensive weapons as long as it remains in force, provided that Moscow does the same, US Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Vipin Narang said.
"We will also abide by the central limits of New START for the duration of the Treaty, as long as we assess that Russia continues to do so," he said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (the think tank’s activities are recognized as undesirable in Russia).
The treaty between the United States and Russia on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) was signed in 2010 and took effect on February 5, 2011. It expires in 2026.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21, 2023, that Moscow was suspending its participation in New START, but not withdrawing from it altogether. He emphasized that before it might resume the discussion of continuing activities under the treaty Russia should have clarity how the New START treaty would take into account the arsenals of not only the United States but also of other NATO nuclear powers - Britain and France.
The document stipulated that seven years after its entry into force each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and strategic bombers, as well as no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers.
The 10-year treaty was to expire on February 5, 2021, but its terms provided for the possibility of its extension by mutual agreement. In February 2021, Moscow and Washington extended the agreement, which Moscow called the gold standard in the field of disarmament, for the maximum possible period of five years.