Status: 11/28/2022 8:08 p.m
This week Russia and the US wanted to discuss the future of the START treaty on strategic nuclear arms disarmament. Now it doesn’t happen for the time being – Moscow is said to have asked to postpone the appointment.
Immediately before the start of planned disarmament talks on strategic nuclear weapons, Russia and the USA postponed planned disarmament talks until further notice. “Russia unilaterally postponed the meeting and said it would propose new dates,” the US State Department said. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow confirmed the postponement.
The START treaty on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, originally signed between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was last extended by five years in February 2021.
In the treaty, both countries commit to restrictions on ICBMs, submarine-launched missiles and fighter jets that can be equipped with nuclear bombs. The contract expires in 2026.
USA are “ready as soon as possible”
Talks about the future of the contract were supposed to take place in Cairo from November 29 to December 6. It was planned that both sides would hear the respective allegations of the other side during the consultations. This applies above all to the question of mutual inspections of strategic weapons.
In August, a few months after the start of its war against Ukraine, Russia stopped US controls on its nuclear arsenal. The reason given was that a Russian review of American nuclear weapons would be impeded by Western sanctions.
The US State Department has now stressed that it is ready for talks as soon as possible, since inspections are a priority in order to preserve the agreement as an instrument of stability.
Last meeting of the panel more than a year ago
The body, which should have met in Egypt for several days, calls itself the Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC) and is responsible for the details of US and Russian inspections of each other’s military facilities under the START treaty.
The treaty is considered the last major arms control pact between the two countries. The inspections were suspended in March 2020 due to the corona pandemic, the last BCC meeting took place in October 2021.