War of Ukraine and Russia, live | International

Russia rules out allowing the US to inspect its nuclear arsenals, as mandated by non-proliferation treaties

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated this Monday that Moscow will not discuss with Washington the resumption of mutual inspections of nuclear arsenals, since the United States provides Ukraine with long-range weapons that have already been used against strategic bases. Russian. "How can we allow the Americans to visit our nuclear facilities (...), if they supply the Ukrainians with long-range weapons that have already been used against our strategic bases, in particular against strategic nuclear bomber bases," Lavrov said by videoconference to a scientific dissemination conference.

The Foreign Minister has indicated that although "there may be doubts", which he described as minimal, "it is most likely that to prepare these attacks, the Americans not only provided weapons, but also helped with information to try to achieve the objectives." .

Lavrov recalled that the preamble to the strategic arms reduction treaty states that Russia and the United States are no longer rivals, that there is mutual trust and that security is indivisible. "All this was trampled, destroyed and thrown into the trash by the Americans," Lavrov stressed. On February 21 of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would no longer comply with its part in this treaty, although he clarified that it was not an abandonment, but rather a temporary suspension.

The START III nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which expires in 2026, was to reduce the number of nuclear warheads by 30%, up to 1,550 per country. In addition, it limits the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles to 700, those deployed on submarines and strategic bombers equipped for nuclear weapons. It also reduced to 800 the number of launchers for intercontinental missiles, submarine launchers for ballistic missiles and strategic bombers equipped for nuclear weapons, whether deployed or not.