Sanctions on Russia made New START Treaty "impossible": Diplomat
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The Russian ambassador to the US denies Washington's claims that the sanctions are compatible with the treaty.
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Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US.
Washington's restrictions against Russia have made Russian inspections under the New START Treaty impossible, according to Anatoly Antonov, Russia's Ambassador to Washington.
"After the inspection activity under the New START Treaty was `frozen’ in 2020 due to COVID-19, we engaged in an active dialogue with the Americans on its resumption. We used the appropriate diplomatic channels including the Bilateral Consultative Commission. We were able to solve a number of organizational and technical issues related to conducting inspections during the pandemic. However, the process was seriously complicated by the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Washington," the Russian envoy said.
The diplomat argued that normal air services between Russia and the US aren't present: closed airspace to Russian aircraft by US allies and complications obtaining transit visas for inspectors and flight crews have "created conditions which impede, if not block, our ability to conduct inspections on the US territory, according to Antonov.
Furthermore, the ambassador rebuffed the US State Department's claims that Washington's sanctions were "fully compatible" with New START and did "not prevent" Russian inspections under the treaty in the US were not true.
Read next: US ready to begin new arms control agreement if Russia is prepared
On August 8, Moscow informed Washington that it is temporarily halting inspections at its facilities covered by the New START Treaty. The foreign ministry explained that Russia was forced to resort to such actions "due to Washington’s persistence in implicitly restarting inspections on conditions that do not take into account the existing realities, create unilateral advantages for the United States and actually strip Russia of the right to carry out inspections on US soil."
Antonov, within this context, argued to TASS that resuming the inspections as soon as possible serves the interests of both Russia and the US.
"It is in the interests of both Russia and the United States to promptly return to the full-fledged inspection regime," the Russian diplomat said.
He also asserted that the revival of the inspections would require the full implementation of equality values.
"The New START verification mechanism cannot function one-sided. The Treaty is based on principles of equality and mutual consideration of interests. Until they are fully implemented, resumption of inspections is detrimental to us," Antonov explained.
"We continue to work with the US side to resolve the issues at hand. Washington should not in word but in deed demonstrate adherence to the Treaty and a good faith commitment to its obligations," the Russian diplomat concluded.
At the beginning of the month, US President Joe Biden said his administration is ready to negotiate a new arms control framework to replace the New START treaty with Russia upon its expiry in 2026.
"In this moment of uncertainty and upheaval on the global stage, reaffirming our shared commitment to the grounding principles of the global nonproliferation regime has never been more crucial. The world can be confident that my Administration will continue to support the NPT and seek to strengthen the nonproliferation architecture that protects people everywhere," Biden said.
However, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev showed skepticism toward the US proposal to return to the extension of START.
Medvedev commented on Telegram by asking, "Do we even need it? The world has changed."
He explained that the situation is today much worse than it was during the Cold War, adding that Russia is not to blame.
"A little more than a month ago, I wrote that strategic security issues, which could not be solved without us, were extremely important for the Americans. And they will come creeping to us with this topic. Well, they did," he said.
Regardless, thus far, Washington has not put forward any concrete proposals to Russia regarding the resumption of strategic stability dialogue, Moscow's embassy in Washington said on Saturday.
