Secretary of State John Kerry highlighted U.S.-Russian arms control cooperation under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in a statement Friday on the fifth anniversary of the accord’s entry into force. “New START is more important now than when it went into effect. It gives us the confidence and level of oversight we need – and could not otherwise have – by allowing U.S. inspectors unprecedented access to Russian nuclear facilities,” Kerry said. “New START continues to be an area of cooperation and continued dialogue between the United States and Russia.”
Under New START, the U.S. and Russia must by Feb. 5, 2018, cap their nuclear arsenals at 1,550 deployed strategic warheads, 700 deployed strategic launchers and heavy bombers, and 800 deployed and non-deployed strategic launchers and heavy bombers. The treaty allows the U.S. to conduct on-site inspections at Russian nuclear weapons facilities and gives both countries “access to each other’s strategic nuclear delivery systems, warheads, and facilities,” the State Department said.
According to the State Department, the U.S. and Russia have sent and received over 10,300 notifications on the status of their strategic nuclear forces, performed 10 data exchanges on the location of weapons systems, and conducted 180 on-site inspections since the treaty’s February 2011 entry into force. Officials from the two countries also meet twice a year to discuss treaty implementation issues, “with no interruption of work due to other global crises causing friction in the bilateral relationship,” the State Department said.
“We expect the United States and Russia to meet the Treaty’s central limits when they take effect on February 5, 2018, and continue to call on Russia to join talks on further reductions to our nuclear arsenals,” Kerry said.
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