Handelsblatt correspondent Mathias Brüggmann reports:
Vladimir Putin announces new arms race
The Russian President announced in Moscow that as of today Russia is suspending its participation in the Start Nuclear Arms Agreement. This last major existing arms control agreement between Russia and the US (Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms) limits the number of strategic nuclear weapons. In the future there will no longer be a balance, Putin said.
The START-3 treaty was signed in 2010 by the Presidents of Russia and the USA, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, for a period of ten years with the possibility of a further five-year extension. It came into effect in 2011. In 2021, Vladimir Putin ratified the agreement extending the treaty until February 5, 2026.
Under the contract, each party may not exceed
- 1550 operational nuclear charges,
- no more than 700 operational ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and strategic bomber missile carriers
- and have no more than 800 operational and non-operational launchers for ICBMs, SLBMs and heavy bombers.