The U.S. believes that Russia violated the New START Treaty by blocking U.S. inspections and by denying Washington a meeting for discussion of compliance with the treaty, according to a Department of State report, sent to the U.S. Congress Tuesday.
According to the report, the absence of inspections made it more difficult to verify the number of warheads, deployed by Russia under the agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported.
At the same time, the State Department representative noted that Russia states that it continues to endorse the treaty. In September, Russia notified the U.S. that it has 1,549 warheads, the State Department says. Meanwhile, the State Department notes that, even if Russia abandons the Treaty, no significant change in the warhead count will occur.
The New START Treaty entered into force on February 5, 2011. In early 2021, the sides extended the treaty for the maximum possible of five years, until 2026.
