MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th March, 2023) The position of Russia on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) will remain unchanged regardless of whether the US continues to send notifications to Moscow under the treaty or not, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Sputnik on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb said that Russian defense officials during their interaction on March 27 with US counterparts said that Moscow would not exchange semi-annual data with Washington in line with the New START treaty. As a countermeasure, the United States has decided that it will also not provide the semi-annual data on high-level numbers back to Russia.
"We voluntarily assumed obligations to adhere to the central quantitative restrictions established by this treaty ... Our position does not depend on whether the Americans will transfer their data to us or not. It remains unchanged, which the American side has already been told several times," Ryabkov said.
The United States, unlike Russia, did not officially suspend its participation in the treaty, therefore, it is obliged to fully comply with its provisions, the diplomat noted, adding that Washington will not be able to shift responsibility to Moscow in the situation around the START.
The US has no grounds to challenge Russia's position on suspending participation in the treaty and must fix all treaty violations, the diplomat said.
