The US State Department on Monday released the size of the US nuclear arsenal, explaining that it intends to continue to comply with the New START nuclear disarmament treaty and urging Russia, which suspended its membership earlier this year, to do the same.

As of March 1, the Americans deployed a total of 662 ICBMs (including submarine and strategic bomber launchers) with 1,419 nuclear warheads and 800 launchers, according to a State Department press release.

“The United States calls on Russia to comply with its legal obligations and fully comply with the New START Treaty and its stabilization, transparency and verification measures,” the statement said.

Russia suspended its membership in the treaty in February in response to Western military aid to Ukraine. Her decision was strongly condemned by Western governments.

New START, signed in 2010, is the latest bilateral nuclear disarmament agreement between the Russians and the Americans. In early August, Moscow had already announced the suspension of scheduled inspections of its military installations.

New START limited the nuclear arsenals of the world’s two largest states to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each, a reduction of nearly 30 percent from 2002, when previous limits were agreed upon. He also limited the number of launchers and strategic bombers to 800.

The agreement provided for mutual checks of arsenals. Inspections have been suspended due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection. The government of current US President Joe Biden has unsuccessfully tried to restart.

Source: RES-IPE