Darrell Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said today that Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to continue adhering to the restrictions under the New START Treaty (START) if the US reciprocates is a positive step, RIA Novosti reports.
On Monday, September 22, Putin said that Moscow is ready to continue adhering to the restrictions under the New START Treaty for another year after its expiration on February 5, 2026. The Russian leader said that steps to adhere to the restrictions under the new treaty will remain effective for another 12 months if the US reciprocates.
"This is a positive step, supported by many by us. By agreeing not to exceed existing limits on strategic nuclear weapons, they could reduce tensions, prevent a costly arms race that no one can win, create diplomatic leverage to limit China's arsenal buildup, and buy time to negotiate a broader and more lasting treaty," the source told the agency.
START is a treaty to limit strategic nuclear weapons, that is, long-range missiles equipped with nuclear warheads. The first START treaty was signed in 1991 by Bush and then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and entered into force in 1994. From today's perspective, it is worth recalling something else very important about this treaty: in addition to Belarus and Kazakhstan, in the additional protocol to the treaty, Ukraine also undertook to hand over to Moscow all Soviet-era nuclear weapons located on its territory. Today's Ukrainian leadership probably bitterly regrets this decision.
START II
Unlike START I, START II never entered into force. Due to the US military intervention in Kosovo and Iraq, as well as the eastern expansion of NATO, tensions between Moscow and Washington have once again increased. In the end, Russia set one condition for ratifying START II: that the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty remain in force.
"When the US unilaterally terminated the treaty in question in 2002, START II was doomed from the start,“ says Henning Hoff of the German Foreign Policy Association. He recalls that there were indeed negotiations for a new START-III agreement, but these efforts were 'dead in the bud'.
Despite this, Moscow and Washington did not lose their interest in strategic nuclear disarmament. In 2002, a treaty was signed in Moscow that limited the number of nuclear warheads to a maximum of 1,700-2,200 for each of the two countries.
"But even that is enough to destroy the entire globe," Hof recalls. Finally, the last START agreement came, which came into force in February 2011 and is actually still valid today.
It officially obliges both countries to limit their nuclear arsenals to a maximum of 1,550 warheads, nuclear delivery vehicles – intercontinental missiles, submarines and bombers - up to a maximum of 800 units. Both sides have the right to inspections to make sure that the other side is complying with the treaty. Most recently, in 2021, Putin and Biden extended the treaty until 2026.
The New START treaty is also in effect during the war in Ukraine
Even Russia's war against Ukraine did not fundamentally change anything related to this treaty. It is true that in October 2022, Russia "temporarily" froze inspections of its nuclear arsenals, but officially not because of the war, but because of the sanctions: due to the embargo imposed on flights by Russian airlines, Russian inspectors cannot fly to the United States for inspections. Six months after the war began, Moscow said it would abide by the treaty, which is "an important instrument for safeguarding international security and stability".
The treaty is the only surviving bilateral agreement between the United States and Russia on nuclear disarmament. In 2019, Donald Trump unilaterally terminated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and in 2020, the "Open Skies" treaty, which allowed reciprocal reconnaissance flights as a confidence-building measure.