NEW Start arms control Treaty

NEW Start arms control Treaty

News: The United States (US) has mentioned that they will stop providing Russia some notifications required under the New START arms control treaty, including updates on its missile and launcher locations, to retaliate for Moscow’s “on-going violations” of the accord.

What is the NEW start treaty?
 Under the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), there exist the following agreements:
 Russia and the U.S. exchange data twice a year on the ballistic missiles under the treaty’s purview, on bombers, test sites, nuclear bases and so on.
 The treaty also mandates the two parties to send notifications within five days if they change or updates something in their stockpile, like moving missiles to a new base or deploying a new warhead to the system.
 It allows each side to carry out up to 18 short-notice (32 hours) on-site inspections of strategic nuclear weapons sites annually to ensure the other has not crossed the limits of the treaty.
 Under the Treaty, America and Russia cannot deploy more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads and more than 700 long-range missiles and bombers.
 It also limits each country to 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers and delivery vehicles.

What are the point of contentions?
 As per Russia, The NATO and the U.S. wanted to inflict strategic defeat on Russia and try to get to their nuclear facilities at the same time.
 In its New START annual implementation report 2023, the U.S. State Department stated that Moscow was not complying with the pact as it had not let Washington carry out on-site inspections.

Impact of Russia not complying to Treaty:
 The two largest nuclear powers could get an opportunity to other nuclear-armed countries, especially China and others like Pakistan, Iran, Israel, and India among others, to increase their arsenals.
 The arms treaty was aimed to hold the global peace and no use of nuclear weapons. However, the Russia’s decision to suspend it causes concerns for developing countries.
Source – Indian Express