US stops sharing nuclear weapons data with russia

The United States is ceasing to share nuclear weapons data with russia, which was exchanged under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START III), which was suspended by the kremlin.

Starting June 1, the russian side will no longer receive information on launches of U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles and the locations of strategic forces, including missiles and their launchers, the State Department said in a statement.

In addition, the United States is freezing the mechanism of nuclear weapons inspections on its territory: from now on, russian specialists will not be able to obtain American visas to inspect strategic US facilities, and previously issued visas will be canceled.

"The United States remains committed to working constructively with russia to restore implementation of the START Treaty," the State Department emphasizes.

However, such work is unlikely to be possible now: President vladimir putin has announced the suspension of russia's participation in the treaty, the last bilateral nuclear weapons agreement left over from the end of the Cold War.

russia "refused to hold meetings of the bilateral advisory commission" on mutual inspections, the state department said, adding that moscow had been informed in advance of the consequences of its decisions.

In December 2022, putin announced the abandonment of the Soviet-era doctrine of "retaliatory" nuclear strikes in favor of "preventive" ones, and three months later announced the termination of participation in the START Treaty.

In response, the United States resumed production of nuclear warheads for the first time since the collapse of the USSR. By 2023, according to the annual report of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a program is planned to produce 80 plutonium cores annually, a key element of strategic and tactical warheads and bombs.

Background. The defense ministers of russia and Belarus recently signed an agreement on the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus.