The United States and Russia exchanged diplomatic notes on Moscow’s decision to unilaterally suspend participation in the START-3 treaty, which requires the two countries to communicate regularly on the state of their nuclear arsenals, to carry out mutual inspections and to respect the limits on the number of warhead deployments. This was confirmed Wednesday by State Department spokesman Ned Price.
“I can confirm that there was an exchange of diplomatic notes between Russia and the United States,” Price said during a State Department briefing, adding that the United States has only learned from the note received “nothing we don’t already know”. public statements from Moscow”.
According to Price, Washington’s position remains the same: “Russia’s decision to unilaterally suspend its participation in START-3 is regrettable, moreover, it is irresponsible.” He affirmed the need for a “responsible” approach to arms control and “the use of other instruments of strategic stability which, at the height of the Cold War and from the beginning of the nuclear age, prevented the exchange of strikes between the nuclear powers.”
“Russia will fare no better in a world where the two major nuclear powers no longer engage in bilateral arms control, and Russia’s willingness to promote instability and use irresponsible nuclear rhetoric endangers every nation on this planet,” Price said.
The State Department spokesman also said the United States “considers it our duty to maintain channels of dialogue” with China regarding reports of possible military assistance from Beijing to Moscow to pursue the war in Ukraine.
“We have spoken about it publicly. But when Secretary Blinken met (Chinese Foreign Minister) Wang Yi in Munich, that was also the dominant topic of conversation,” Price said, adding that the United States wants to be in direct contact with China, knowing the importance of dialogue and wanting to “manage these relationships responsibly.”
