Denunciation of the Treaty on Measures to Further Reduce and Limit Strategic Offensive Arms (START or START-3) could lead to an uncontrolled build-up of nuclear weapons by the United States. This point of view was expressed by the head of the Directorate of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, Major General Andrei Sterlin and leading researcher at the Center for Military Strategic Research of the Military Academy of the General Staff, Colonel Alexander Khryapin, in an article published in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.
Recall that the START-3 Treaty was concluded between Russia and the United States on April 8, 2010 and entered into force on February 5, 2011 for a period of 10 years with the possibility of prolongation for five years by agreement of the parties. START-3 ends on February 5, 2021.
According to the authors, if the treaty is terminated, the military-political situation in the world "will become significantly complicated, since in the absence of restrictive treaty norms, an uncontrolled build-up by the United States of its strategic weapons is possible."
“We would like to emphasize that this is an extremely dangerous path, because the world will again, like in the second half of the 20th century, balance on the brink of a global nuclear catastrophe,” military experts say.
The authors of the document emphasize that the Russian Federation is in favor of the extension of START-3, but the United States has not yet agreed to the extension.
- General Staff building of the RF Armed Forces
- RIA News
- © Natalia Seliverstova
“The Russian Federation has proposed extending the START-3 Treaty, since this will allow both sides to maintain control over START, ensure the transparency of their START composition and, as a result, will make it possible to reliably predict their combat capabilities for the specified period. At the same time, additional time will appear to search for solutions to the problematic issues of limiting strategic offensive arms and moving towards a new agreement, ”the representatives of the General Staff believe.
The authors emphasize that "after the termination of the START-3 Treaty, there will be no existing international agreement limiting the strategic arms race, and the hands of the American hawks will be completely untied."
According to experts, these steps are being taken by the American side against the background of Washington's declaration of new approaches to nuclear policy and missile defense.
For example, in the 2018 US Nuclear Posture Review, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, Russia was openly declared an enemy of the United States. In addition, the doctrine spelled out the possibility of the preventive use of nuclear weapons. According to the document, the United States has planned a radical rearmament of its nuclear forces, "including the creation of new modern sea-launched cruise missiles and ultra-low-yield nuclear weapons," the Russian General Staff recalls.
At the same time, in the field of missile defense development, the United States is striving to create strike weapons in outer space and establish a new line of interception of ballistic missiles, in which they will be hit "not in flight, but at launch positions."
"Achievement of military-technical superiority"
As the Russian military recalls, over the past 20 years, the United States has withdrawn from a number of international treaties that were aimed at maintaining global strategic stability.
In 2002, Washington annulled the ABM Treaty, "which for many years was the basis for limiting strategic offensive arms."
Then in 2019, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty).
"Apparently, the main goal of the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty is to deploy missile systems with ground-based intermediate and shorter-range missiles near Russian borders," the General Staff suggests.
In 2020, the United States announced its termination of participation in the Open Skies Treaty (OST), which was signed in 1992 and established the practice of international observation flights to inspect the military infrastructure of the participating countries. According to the Russian military, Washington went to this in order to exclude the possibility of arms control on its territory. In the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, this policy is called "the systematic destruction of international security systems."
According to experts, in addition to the START Treaty, today the threat also looms over the treaties on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) and the comprehensive nuclear test ban (CTBT).
"The destruction of the NPT may become the trigger that will lead to a nuclear arms race around the world and an increase in the number of countries possessing nuclear weapons, primarily" threshold (on the verge of creating their own nuclear charger. - RT ) ", - said in article.
At the same time, unlike Russia, the United States has not yet ratified the CTBT, the authors of the document note.
“It is noteworthy that the DPRK is the US's“ ally ”in approaches to this treaty. In 2006, these two countries, in contrast to 172 states, refused to accept the UN General Assembly resolution on the need for the early signing and ratification of the CTBT, ”remind the authors of the material.
In their opinion, such a policy of the American leadership is aimed at retaining the global leadership of the United States.
“All the steps taken by the United States in the field of strategic armaments over the past two decades are links of one chain and are aimed at achieving military and technical superiority of the United States in order to maintain its global leadership in the world and ensure, as it seems to them, victory in possible future wars over any of the countries of the world, primarily over Russia, including due to its economic weakening by being drawn into the next arms race, ”the document says.
"The answer will be overwhelming."
Russia's priority in these conditions is "to ensure nuclear deterrence as the basis of strategic deterrence," remind the staff of the General Staff.
The official view of the Russian Federation on this problem is set out in the "Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence", published in the public domain on June 2, 2020. The document defines "the dangers and threats for the neutralization of which nuclear deterrence is carried out, the basic principles and subjects of deterrence" and the conditions for the possible use of nuclear weapons.
In the "Fundamentals", in particular, it is declared that the policy of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear weapons is exclusively defensive in nature.
- Project 955A strategic nuclear submarine missile cruiser "Prince Vladimir", which is a component of the strategic nuclear forces of Russia
- RIA News
“Russia is not going to attack anyone, but will take all steps to neutralize any aggression against our country. This approach reflects a strategy of active containment and can be described as “active defense”. At the same time, Russia is making and will make all the necessary efforts to reduce the nuclear threat, ”the General Staff comments on this provision.
As noted in the Ministry of Defense, “the main military threats, for the neutralization of which nuclear deterrence is being carried out, come from the collective West and are associated with the build-up of general-purpose forces near the borders of the Russian Federation, which are armed, among other things, with means of delivering nuclear weapons, with the deployment of systems and missile defense systems, strike weapons for various purposes and basing, including space ”.
“In Osnovy, Russia has marked the“ red lines ”, which we do not advise anyone to cross. If a potential adversary decides to do this, then the answer will undoubtedly be crushing, ”the authors of the document conclude.
"Dominate the military field"
Sergei Yermakov, head of the regional security sector at the RISS Defense Research Center, called the General Staff's assessment of the situation in global arms control adequate.
“The United States is playing a political game around the issue of extending the START-3 Treaty, which expires in February 2021. Today, a clear plan for its extension is required, but instead, the American side demonstrates with enviable persistence that it wants to finally destroy the entire arms control regime. This is due to the fact that the United States is seeking freedom in terms of deploying its combat systems, ”the analyst said in an interview with RT.
According to him, “part of the American establishment has the opinion that the United States can achieve world global leadership only by remaining strong militarily.”
Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, adheres to a similar point of view.
“Washington believes that they can gain a decisive superiority in the military sphere if they are not bound by any agreements on arms control. In their opinion, technological superiority will enable them to dominate in the military field over any other country. This view has been traced by the US leadership for a long time, ”said a military expert in an interview with RT.
- The launch of the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile. This complex is a component of Russia's strategic nuclear forces
- © Screenshot from video: RT
At the same time, Sergei Ermakov recalls that after the denunciation of treaties such as the INF Treaty, DON and, in the future, START-3, not only restrictions on the number of warheads and delivery vehicles will disappear, but the possibility of conducting mutual inspections that increase the level of trust between states will also disappear.
"If the system of global containment is destroyed, the degree of uncertainty will increase dramatically, and with it there will be a threat of global instability, which the Russian military-political leadership is talking about," he is sure.
According to military expert Dmitry Litovkin, Russia is still open for negotiations on the extension of START III.
“Russia is ready to discuss control agreements with the United States. The same START-3 provides a certain level of transparency; both sides need it. However, at the same time we will modernize old and create new weapons in order to respond to emerging threats, ”the analyst said in an interview with RT.
At the same time, experts are convinced that Russia will not allow itself to be drawn into a new arms race, despite the US policy.
“Russia has carefully studied the negative experience of the USSR, therefore its military doctrine is defensive in nature and is based on the principle of reasonable sufficiency, focused on moderate spending on military needs, while developing weapons components that will be adequate to the current and future military-political situation ", - concluded Sergey Ermakov.