New START nuclear treaty: Russia considers continuation of this 'important' treaty

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Russia hasresponded to the claims made by the United States that Moscow is violating the New START nuclear treaty. Russia on Wednesday (February 1) said that it intends to preserve its last remaining nuclear treaty with the US despite calling it a destructive approach by America for controlling arms.

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Dmitry Peskov, who is the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters that "no matter how sad the situation is at the present time", it was actually necessary to preserve at least some "hints" of continued dialogue with Washington.

Peskov said that "we consider the continuation of this treaty very important" as he described it as the only one that remained "at least hypothetically viable". He added, "Otherwise, we see that the United States has actually destroyed the legal frameworkfor arms control."

For the unversed, the New START is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the US and Russia with an aim to have control over nuclear arms in both nations.

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The formal name of the treaty is Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms and it was signed on April 8, 2010, in Prague. After ratification, it was entered into force on February 5, 2011.

The treaty aims to put limits on the two countries over the deployment of nuclear warheads onballistic missiles and heavy bombers. The New START is set to expire in 2026 and experts have raised concerns and urged that the treaty should be revived.

Meanwhile, the US has claimed that Russia had violated the terms of the New START Treaty, stating that Moscow was refusing to allow inspection activities on its territory.

A State Department spokesperson said: "Russia's refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control."

(With inouts from agencies)

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