US Seeking to Obtain Data on Russia’s Strategic Arsenal: Envoy

The US calls for discussing New START issues separately from the general geopolitical situation are beneath criticism, since Washington is seeking to obtain information about Russia’s strategic arsenal, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday.

"Washington has long been violating the letter and the spirit of the agreement. It has not only abandoned the principles embedded in the Preamble to New START, but also breached the central limits of the Treaty that restrict the number of strategic weapons. It illegitimately removed from accountability under the Treaty about a hundred strategic offensive arms: SLBM launchers and heavy bombers," he said, TASS reported.

"Russia’s repeated demands to resolve the problem have been ignored," the embassy quoted him as saying on its Telegram channel, commenting on the US State Department’s report on why the implementation of the New START Treaty is in the United States’ national security interests.

"Even more important factor that has led to the current crisis over the agreement is the Administration’s hybrid war against our country aimed at imposing on us a strategic defeat," he said. "Washington’s calls for addressing the New START issues separately from the overall geopolitical situation do not stand up to criticism. The real goal of the United States is to gain access to Russia’s nuclear weapons bases in order to obtain information about the development of our strategic arsenal."

"This report - as well as other previous State Department’s documents on New START and arms control - is empty tub-thumping," Antonov stressed.