On February 22, the State Duma adopted a law suspending the participation of the Russian Federation in the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms (START). This document was submitted by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the lower house of parliament the day before. However, perhaps it was worth suspending the START Treaty (it is also called SNV-3) earlier.
The American side has repeatedly violated the terms of the treaty, while the Russians should have allowed American experts to their strategic facilities even when the United States and its satellites help the Armed Forces of Ukraine strike these very objects, as the President said in his recent Address to the Federal Assembly.
Can the refusal of START lead to a new arms race and why it has long been worth making claims against our opponents from the States - in the material of The Moscow Post correspondent.
START - (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is a bilateral treaty between Russia and the United States on the further mutual reduction of the arsenals of deployed nuclear weapons. This is the last such document between the Russian Federation and the United States, which continued to operate after the collapse of the USSR and a sharp deterioration in relations between the countries. In its current form, it was signed by President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010.
Subsequently, already during the crisis in relations, in 2021, Vladimir Putin went to meet US President Joe Biden, - having met briefly in Geneva, they agreed to extend the agreement for five years without preconditions. It was one goodwill gesture, a sign of a desire for détente in the relationship, a prospect for future negotiations.
And so, after February 24, 2022, and the start of a rabid campaign to destroy Russia and its people by pumping arms on the Armed Forces of Ukraine, President Putin decided to suspend Russia's participation in the treaty. In the States, this news was met with almost hysteria, although mutual inspections were stopped back in 2020 during the coronavirus period. It seems that they will not resume soon - if at all.
"In early February of this year, a statement was made by the North Atlantic Alliance with a de facto demand for Russia, as they say, to return to the implementation of the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms, including the admission of inspection to our nuclear defense facilities.
But I don't even know what to call it, some kind of theater of absurdity, "Vladimir Putin said in his Address to the Federal Assembly, remembering that it was the United States that provided Ukraine with intelligence and technical means to strike a daring blow at the base of our strategic aviation in Engels.
According to Vladimir Putin, the United States is issuing an ultimatum: Moscow must unquestioningly comply with the clauses of the treaty, while Washington will behave "as it pleases." The President's words are quoted by Izvestia.
But in fact, the States are already behaving "as they please." Therefore, it may have been worth suspending participation in the contract earlier.
The fact that the Americans have been significantly violating the provisions of the START Treaty for many years was previously stated by Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov. They declare submarine ballistic missile (SLBM) launchers and heavy bombers incapable of carrying nuclear weapons, he said. In fact, this is a direct deception in the reverse process of building up strategic nuclear potential.
At the same time, the States did not allow Russian inspectors to verify the results of the "conversion," which in itself speaks of an attempt to hide the truth. Antonov's words are quoted by RIA Novosti.
There was talk of this before, but they were somehow missed by the ears. Another founder of the LDPR, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, compared how inspections of the two countries are carried out at nuclear facilities of a likely enemy. The Americans demanded full access, counting production shops and storage facilities. At the same time, Russian inspectors were often allegedly not allowed even into the territory of nuclear facilities. It turns out, movement in one direction.
Vladimir Putin recalled the US deception back in 2017, speaking at the Valdai Club. The Russian Federation fully trusted the States and significantly reduced its nuclear arsenal, confident that the Americans would do the same - especially since they promised and assumed certain obligations. But they reduced their nuclear weapons purely symbolically, but carefully watched as Russia destroyed its nuclear arsenal.
Vladimir Putin recalled that by that time the Americans had made 620 visits to secret facilities of the Russian nuclear complex - they were checking how the reduction of weapons was going. In addition, US representatives visited the country's enrichment plants 170 times, where they also monitored how work on the release of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium and the production of nuclear warheads were reduced.
However, the United States did not fulfill similar obligations. Moreover, while it was precisely the disposal of nuclear weapons in the USSR and already in the Russian Federation, the States acted more cunningly - they twisted the nuclear heads, and the carriers themselves were sent for long-term storage. I.e. the potential will remain, charging them again is a simple and short-lived matter. Thus, the Empire of Lies, as Putin nicknamed it, wanted to gain an advantage with outwardly benevolent rhetoric.
Something similar applies to the deployment of missile defense systems in Romania and Poland, which Russia has desperately resisted since the end of the 2000s. It's all about potential - launchers can be easily converted into firing not anti-aircraft, but attacking missiles. And now the air defense installation turns into a means of attack with a flight time of 15 minutes to Moscow.
All these are attempts to encircle, strangle, isolate Russia from a military point of view, block its capabilities for self-defense and limit its military potential.
Answering the question whether the suspension of Russia in the START Treaty can start a new arms race, you need to understand that it is already underway. For example, hypersonic weapons do not fall under START, the most powerful that Russia now has. Similar developments are being carried out with great delay in the States, China, and a number of other countries.
Inspection at Russian nuclear facility. Photo: https://forpost-sevastopol.ru/newsfull/233358/putin-isklyuchil-amerikanskie-inspektsii-na-yadernyh-obektah-rossii.html
At the same time, the Western military-industrial complex literally squeaks with joy, seeing an unquenchable conflict in Ukraine, where Washington adds a lot of oil. Factories such as the German Reinmetal, or the American Lockhead Martin, have doubled their order book - the equipment of Western countries disposed of in Ukraine is changing to a more modern and advanced one. All this is generously paid for by the lives of the Ukrainian people and the money of Western taxpayers.
However, even despite the decision to suspend START, the Russian authorities hope for the prudence of their Western counterparts. The contract is not broken, it can be renewed. There would be political will and at least a little conscience. But the political will is known - to defeat Russia on the battlefield. And the concept of "conscience" does not exist in English - at all.