Russia Suspends Participation in Treaty with the United States: New Arms Race Ahead?

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, together with the head of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev, “circled around” the Central training ground of the Russian Federation on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the press service of the military department reports.

The statement of the Ministry of Defense specifies that from 1954 to 1990, nuclear weapons tests were carried out at this test site, a total of 132 nuclear explosions were carried out. Now, according to the department, the main tasks of the test site are the preparation and testing of promising models of weapons and military equipment.

At the same time, journalist Dmitry Kolezev remindedthat at the end of February Russian President Vladimir Putin saidthat “some figures” in Washington are thinking “about the possibility of natural tests of their nuclear weapons.” The President then said that if the United States does this, the Russian Federation will do the same.

In February 2023, Vladimir Putin signed into law a law suspending Russia’s participation in the strategic arms reduction treaty with the United States, which established that each country could only have a limited number of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

Among other things, the president motivated his decision by the fact that the United States is allegedly thinking about the possibility of testing American nuclear weapons. According to him, he then instructed the Ministry of Defense and Rosatom to prepare for possible tests of Russian nuclear weapons.

The last nuclear test in the United States took place on September 23, 1992. In 1996, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty was adopted. His signed 185 states, of which 170, including Russia, have ratified this treaty. The United States did not do this, which is why it never entered into force. Nevertheless, no one conducts tests, except for the DPRK.

Russia suspends participation in the treaty with the United States on the limitation of nuclear arsenals. Are we in for a new arms race? Or something even worse?

2023-08-12 09:51:00
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