Russia threatens U.S. nuclear treaty, says State Department

Russia is threatening the New START nuclear treaty and U.S. military control over Russia, the Biden administration charged on Tuesday.

The finding was sent to Congress and was summarized in a statement by the State Department. It follows a month of more hopeful U.S. assessments that the two countries would be able to salvage cooperation on limiting strategic nuclear weapons despite high tensions over Russia's war on Ukraine.

The inspections of U.S. and Russian military sites under the New START treaty were paused by both sides because of the spread of the coronaviruses in March 2020. The U.S. Russia Committee overseeing the implementation of the treaty met in October 2021, but Russia unilaterally suspended its cooperation with the treaty's inspection provisions in August 2022 to protest U.S. support for Ukraine.

Russia s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of U.S. nuclear weapons control, the State Department said Tuesday.

The administration blamed Russia for the two country s failure to resume talks required under the New START treaty.

Russia s Foreign Ministry said last August that it was temporarily suspending on-site inspections required under the treaty. It said U.S. sanctions over Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine had changed conditions between the two countries and claimed that the U.S. was blocking Russians from carrying out their own inspections at U.S. sites.

The State Department denied on Tuesday that the U.S. was blocking inspections by Russians.

It stressed that the U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control efforts were essential to the security of the U.S. allies and the world at large.

The State Department said that guardrails and clarity are important, because they are the most important in times of tension.