MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will continue to notify the United States of any intercontinental ballistic missile launches or submarines despite having decided to suspend its participation in the New START strategic arms reduction treaty, the vice-president said on Thursday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov, according to statements reported by the Interfax agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last February to suspend Moscow’s participation in the New START treaty signed with the United States in 2010.
This agreement limits to 1,550 the number of nuclear warheads that the two former superpowers of the Cold War era can deploy in intercontinental ballistic missiles, missile submarines or strategic bombers.
Sergey Ryabkov said that despite the suspension, Russia had pledged to respect the limits set on nuclear warheads and that Moscow would continue to implement the 1988 agreement on the exchange of notifications on missile launches, has reported Interfax.
US President Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin’s decision on the New START treaty a “big mistake”.
(Reuters report, French version Matthieu Protard)
