NEW START TREATY -
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
News: Russia
suspends the last remaining major nuclear treaty with the U.S.
What's in the news?
● Russian
President Vladimir Putin declared that Moscow was suspending its participation
in the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the
U.S sharply upping the ante amid tensions with Washington over the fighting in
Ukraine.
Key takeaways:
● The
New START's official name is The Treaty between the United States of America and Russian Federation on Measures for the
Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.
● The
treaty envisages caps on the number of nuclear weapons and broad inspections of
nuclear sites.
Objective:
● It
is a treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on
measures for the further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.
● The
term ‘strategic offensive arms’
applies to nuclear warheads deployed by Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicles
(‘SNDVs’).
● SNDVs
are Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles
(‘ICBMs’) with a range exceeding
5,500 kilometers, strategic bombers, warships (including strategic
submarines) and cruise missiles, including air and sea-launched cruise
missiles.
Enforcement: It came into force on 5th February, 2011.
Replaced
START I Treaty (1991):
● New
START has replaced the 1991 START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, and
superseded the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), which
terminated when New START entered into force.
● The
START Framework of 1991 (at the end of the Cold War) limited both sides to
1,600 strategic delivery vehicles and 6,000 warheads.
● The
May 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), also known as the Moscow
Treaty, committed the United States and Russia to reduce their deployed
strategic nuclear forces to 1,700-2,200 warheads apiece.
● Limiting Strategic
Nuclear Arsenals: It continues the
bipartisan process of verifiably reducing the USA and Russian strategic nuclear
arsenals by limiting both sides to 700 strategic launchers and 1,550
operational warheads.
● Renewal: It
was to lapse in February 2021, but after receiving renewal approval from USA
and Russia, will be extended for a five-year period.