Russian authorities have rejected U.S. accusations of alleged breaches of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and stress that their compliance with it is «beyond reproach.»
«It is something to note how quickly this annual report has been prepared. Its previous versions did not contain sensational allegations, they were usually published in April or even later,» said Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoli Antonov.
He stressed that Joe Biden’s administration «clearly wanted to launch another battery of unfounded accusations in the area of arms control» in the context of a «frenzied confrontation with Russia, initiated by the West».
«Our respect for New START has been reproachful all these years, unlike on the part of Washington, on whose conscience weighs the illegitimate withdrawal of more than a hundred strategic weapons from the monitoring system under the treaty,» he explained.
In this regard, Antonov stressed that «these actions affect the core limits of New START and undermine the key objective of the agreement, which is to maintain the balance of strategic offensive weapons of the parties,» according to a statement released by the Russian Embassy in the United States.
The ambassador has further argued that, regarding the allegations about the temporary exemption of Russian strategic facilities from the bilateral consultation commission, they «follow the traditional U.S. pattern.» «Washington refuses to see the causes of the problem and blames others,» he has lamented.
«We have repeatedly told the (U.S.) administration that the New START situation is a direct result of the hybrid war launched by the West against our country. We have warned that arms control cannot be isolated from geopolitical realities,» he said.
Therefore, he stressed that «in the current circumstances» Russia «considers it unjustified, inadequate and inappropriate to invite the US Army» for visits to Russian «strategic facilities».
«Russia remains committed to the goals of New START and continues to consider it a useful tool for maintaining strategic stability and ensuring predictability in relations between the major nuclear powers,» he said, before stressing that «the responsibility for the upsurge in tensions over New START rests entirely with Washington.»
«There can be no progress on arms control if the United States does not reconsider its policy of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia,» he argued, while accusing Washington of «concealing» its biological research programs in Ukraine.
«SOMETHING TO HIDE»
In this way, he has outlined that «the Americans contradict themselves» and has questioned that «if such a program were totally peaceful, why limit their work so quickly?». «Why are these matters handled by the Army and not by civilian specialists?», he has asked.
«The answer is obvious. Washington had and has something to hide,» said Antonov, who said that the end of these activities in Ukraine are due to the fact that the United States «did everything possible to ensure that the results of its research did not fall into the hands of the Russian Army.»
Antonov’s remarks come after the U.S. State Department accused Russia of violating New START by refusing to allow inspectors on its territory and obstructing Washington’s efforts to address the issue.
Washington and Moscow extended New START for a five-year term in 2021, giving both nations sufficient leeway to engage in new strategic security talks, according to Bloomberg.
In 2020 the inspections had to be halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, when the conditions to resume such activity were restored, Russia has refused since August last year to resume such visits, partly due to the tensions between the two powers over the war in Ukraine.
This treaty between the United States and Russia seeks to limit the deployment of intercontinental-range nuclear weapons by both sides, allowing frequent checks of each country’s programs by the other. The agreement allows Washington and Moscow to deploy up to 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles and 1,550 nuclear warheads on those missiles.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
