Russia Suspends U.S. Arms Inspections Under New START Treaty

Russia’s foreign ministry is suspending U.S. on-site inspections under the strategic New START arms treaty with Washington citing sanctions levied on the country as the reason.

On Monday, the ministry said facilities that are subject to inspections under the treaty will be "temporarily" exempt from such inspections.

New START is the last remaining arms reduction pact between the former Cold War rivals. Signed in 2010 by then U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the treaty limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.

"Russia is now forced to resort to this measure as a result of Washington's persistent desire to implicitly achieve a restart of inspections on conditions that do not take into account existing realities," the foreign ministry said in a statement. It also accused the U.S. of seeking "to create unilateral advantages" and deprive Russia of "the right to carry out inspections on American soil” due to Western sanctions including the closure of air space for Russian planes and visa restrictions.

Moscow has also pointed to a new spike in COVID-19 cases in the United States as the reason to suspend the inspections.

Last year, the U.S. and Russia extended New START by the maximum allowed time of five years.