Vladimir Putin signs law suspending Russia’s participation in arms reduction treaty with US

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law officially suspending his country’s participation in the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the US. The law came into effect immediately after it was signed on Tuesday, and the decision to resume Russia’s participation in the treaty rests with the head of state, the Xinhua News Agency reports. In his annual State of the Union address to the Federal Assembly on February 21, Putin said Russia is suspending its participation in the New START treaty rather than withdrawing from it.

He also pointed to NATO’s combined attack potential, as Britain and France also have nuclear arsenals that pose a threat to Russia. A day later, a bill suspending the New START treaty was unanimously approved by the Russian parliament and then submitted to Putin for final approval. The New START, the last remaining nuclear weapons control treaty between the two nuclear superpowers, was signed in 2010 and came into force on February 5, 2011.

The treaty provides that each party shall have no more than 700 total deployed ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) ​​and strategic bombers seven years after its entry into force, and no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs , deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers and a total of 800 deployed and undeployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers.

On February 3, 2021, the two nations exchanged notes on the completion of internal procedures required for the agreement to extend the term of the treaty by five years to come into effect.
On August 8, 2022, Russia notified the US that it was temporarily suspending New START inspections of its facilities amid sanctions imposed on Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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