Russian authorities have blocked US representatives from accessing its nuclear missiles. The inspection was provided for by the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Weapons.
The press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia writes about this.
"The Russian Federation is forced to resort to this measure now as a result of Washingtonʼs persistent desire to get inspection activities restarted in an apparent order on terms that do not take into account the existing realities, create unilateral advantages for the United States and actually deprive the Russian Federation of the right to carry out inspections on American territory," — reported in the department.
They emphasize that all the sanctions introduced by the USA make it impossible for Russians to inspect the territory of the States, so they allegedly block the admission of American representatives in response.
"We would like to emphasize that the measures we have taken are temporary in nature. Russia is fully committed to complying with all the provisions of the Treaty on SNO, which is, in our eyes, the most important tool for maintaining international security and stability," the message reads.
- The current Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Weapons was signed between Russia and the United States in 2010. This is already the third agreement between the two states — the largest owners of nuclear weapons, and will be valid until 2026. The United States signed the first such agreement with the USSR in the summer of 1991, and the second with Russia in 1993. The agreements provide that Russia and the United States will jointly reduce their nuclear warheads, as well as the possible carriers of nuclear weapons, from missiles to strategic bombers.
- The main means of monitoring these contracts are bilateral inspections. That is, the representatives of Russia and the USA have the right to visit each otherʼs nuclear facilities and personally check whether each country is really reducing its nuclear weapons. As of January 2021, both countries have conducted more than 300 inspections.