On Tuesday, the White House said the United States is stopping sharing nuclear data with Russia, as it has done regularly over the years under the START-3 treaty. According to a representative of the National Security Council, this measure is the American response to Moscow’s decision to suspend participation in the treaty.
He also said that “in accordance with international law, the United States has the right to respond to Russia’s violation of the START-3 Treaty and to take proportionate and reversible countermeasures to induce Russia to return to its obligations. “.
“Because Russia’s announced suspension of New START is legally invalid, the United States is legally permitted to not update our data every two years in response to Russian violations,” the spokesperson added. White House.
On February 21, 2023, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was suspending its participation in the START-3 treaty, which limits the strategic nuclear arsenals deployed on both sides. At the same time, Putin argued that Russia was not withdrawing from the treaty completely.
Signed in February 2011, renewed in early 2021 and expiring in 2026, the START-3 treaty limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads the two countries can deploy and establishes mechanisms to verify compliance with the treaty. Under this treaty, the United States and Russia exchange data on the status of their strategic nuclear forces.
In particular, the treaty contains a biennial data exchange clause, according to which “each country provides the other country with a statement of its strategic delivery vehicles, launchers and warheads deployed, including: a breakdown of the number of warheads deployed over three types of delivery vehicles; a breakdown of the number of strategic delivery vehicles and warheads deployed to each declared base. A significant amount of information is also provided between biennial exchanges through treaty-required notifications.
According to the latest data exchange as of September 1, 2020, the Russian Federation declared 1,447 deployed strategic warheads.
Both the United States and Russia complied with the central strategic nuclear weapon limits set by the START-3 treaty on February 5, 2018, and since then their nuclear stockpiles have remained at or below the established level.
These restrictions include:
- 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), deployed submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) ​​and deployed nuclear-capable heavy bombers;
- 1,550 nuclear warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and deployed nuclear-capable heavy bombers (each heavy bomber counts as one warhead below this limit);
- 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and heavy bombers suitable for the use of nuclear weapons.
