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Russia denies US allegations that it violated New START Treaty, won’t resume inspections – JURIST

Russia denied US allegations that it violated the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) Wednesday in a statement released by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Amid new US calls for Russia to allow nuclear inspectors in the country, the Russian foreign ministry alleges that “US activities” violated the treaty’s prescribed inspection procedures. In 2022, Russia halted arms inspections under New START, claiming that US sanctions made it too difficult to comply with that provision of the treaty.New START, signed by the US and the Russian Federation, lasts until 2026. The treaty places limits on nuclear weapons that can reach the US in 30 minutes. Both the US and Russia are only allowed to retain about 1,500 strategic warheads each. The provision of the treaty at issue here is the provision that allows the US and Russia to have inspection teams that inspect nuclear sites 18 times per year.The US’ allegations come just days after the US Department of State announced it will continue to enforce sanctions on Russia, specifically targeting Russian efforts to use proxies to evade US sanctions. The task force working on this project, known as the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force, focuses on identifying and seizing Russian assets across the globe.A multinational investigation Wednesday also revealed that a Russian-supplied missile was used in the collision with passenger flight MH17 that killed almost 300 people in 2014 flying over Ukraine.
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