White House: Peskov’s words indicate the interest of the Russian Federation and the United States in START-3, this is a positive moment
The words of the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov indicate the interest in the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START) of both Russia and the United States. This was announced on Wednesday, February 1, by Kara Abercrombie, Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States and Coordinator for Defense Policy and Arms Control of the National Security Council of the White House.
Earlier in the day, Peskov said that Russia considers the continuation of START very important. At the same time, he noted that the United States had actually destroyed the legal framework in the field of arms control and security.
“Regarding Mr. Peskov’s comment today, I think this again indicates that both sides continue to consider arms control and START-3 to be our common interest. And this is a positive moment,” she said during the Arms Control Association’s event “Problems and Prospects for Further Russian-American Nuclear Arms Control.”
According to Abercrombie, Washington is ready for constructive work with Moscow in order to fully implement the provisions of the START Treaty.
As The Wall Street Journal wrote on January 31, citing a US State Department report, Washington believes that Moscow allegedly violated the terms of the START by blocking inspections from the American side and refusing to meet with it to discuss compliance with the treaty. This has made it more difficult for US officials to verify the number of warheads Russia has deployed under the deal, the report said.
On January 30, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia remains committed to START , while the United States, meanwhile, is violating the treaty’s preamble, which speaks of the indivisibility of security. He explained that Russia fully complies with all the “quantitative and qualitative restrictions” established by the treaty, and Washington, in turn, does not comply with the agreements prescribed in the treaty, carrying out frontal-aggressive containment of Moscow .
In January 2021, Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden agreed to extend the New START Treaty without additional conditions for another five years, until February 5, 2026. At the same time, the situation changed after the start of the Russian special operation to protect Donbass .
So, on November 30, 2022, Ryabkov said that Moscow had postponed the meeting of the commission on START, as it could not ignore Washington’s actions on Ukraine . Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained that Moscow postponed consultations with the United States on START against the backdrop of hostility from Washington.
In August of the same year, Russia temporarily withdrew its facilities from US inspections. The Russian Foreign Ministry explained this by the fact that Washington de facto deprived the Russian Federation of the right to conduct inspections of military nuclear facilities in the United States.