The United States disclosed the numbers of its strategic nuclear deterrence arsenal, and said that it wanted to respect the “New START” nuclear disarmament treaty, and called on Moscow, which had suspended its participation in it, to do the same.
And a statement by the US State Department announced, yesterday (Monday), that the United States, on the first of last March, was deploying a total of 662 intercontinental ballistic missiles, a number that includes missiles installed in submarines and bomber aircraft, equipped with 1419 nuclear warheads and 800 launchers. The statement added that the United States calls on Russia to respect its legal obligations by returning to the New START Treaty and the stability, transparency and verification measures it contains.
Last February, Russia suspended its participation in the New START Treaty in response to the assistance provided by Western countries in the Ukraine war.
In the past months, Moscow has intensified its threats to use its nuclear arsenal in the event that its national security is endangered, especially after the war in Ukraine faltered and a number of Western countries provided Kiev with advanced weapons.
It is noteworthy that the New START treaty was signed in 2010, which is the last nuclear disarmament agreement between Russia and the United States. In early August, Moscow announced the suspension of scheduled inspections at its military sites.
The treaty limits the nuclear arsenal of the two nuclear powers to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads, a reduction of about 30% compared to the previous maximum set in 2002. It also limits the number of missile launchers and bomber aircraft to 800. It provides for audits of the arsenals of the two countries that were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic, and President Joe Biden’s administration tried to revive them, without success.
