The United States has accused Russia of not fulfilling its obligations to allow inspections on its territory under the "New START" treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.
A US State Department spokesperson said - in a statement - that "Russia's refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the effectiveness of the US-Russian nuclear arms control agreement."
The spokesman added that Russia has a "clear path" to return to compliance by allowing inspection activities, stressing that Washington is ready to work with Russia to fully implement the treaty.
US-Russian talks were scheduled to be held in Egypt last November regarding the resumption of inspections under the "New START" treaty, but Russia postponed them, and neither party set a new date for the meeting.
The last meeting of the bilateral advisory committee for the "New START" treaty dates back to October 2021, that is, months before the start of the Russian war against Ukraine in February 2022.
In August 2022, Russia announced the suspension of planned US inspections at its military sites under the treaty, stressing that this was a response to US sanctions against similar Russian inspections in the United States.
As the latest existing arms agreement between the world's two largest nuclear powers, New START limits the number of nuclear warheads each side can deploy, and has both symbolic and practical significance.
Signed in 2010, the treaty stipulates that the arsenals of the two nuclear powers be limited to a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads each, which represents a reduction of approximately 30% compared to the previous ceiling set in 2002.
It also limits the number of strategic launch vehicles and heavy bombers to 800, which is enough to destroy the Earth many times over.
In January 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended the treaty by 5 years, until 2026.