Comment by the Russian Embassy in the United States to Newswee | Посольство России в Афганистане / سفارت روسیه در افغانستان

Comment by the Russian Embassy in the United States to Newsweek on the current situation as it relates to arms control:

The inspection activities under the New START Treaty have indeed been suspended since the early 2020 by mutual agreement due to COVID-19 pandemic. We are working closely with our American colleagues within the framework of the New START Bilateral Consultative Commission to remove organizational and technical obstacles to resume inspections. Some issues have been resolved but by no means all of them.
The remaining problems stem from the anti-Russian restrictive measures imposed unilaterally by the United States. The State Department statement that the sanctions do not prevent our inspectors from conducting verification procedures on the US territory is misleading. Direct flights between the US and Russia have been cancelled. Washington’s allies have closed their airspace to transit flights and technical stops of Russian aircraft transporting our inspectors to the US. Members of our inspection teams and flights crews are prevented to obtain transit visas. The American side has none of these issues. As a result, Washington has got an obvious advantage.
Without resolving these issues, it is impossible to resume inspections. Our American colleagues understand this. Therefore the US decision to notify us of their intent to conduct an inspection on the Russian territory was perplexing. We had no choice but to announce a temporary exemption of the inspection activities from the Russian facilities subject to inspections.
This measure in no way contradicts New START terms and is not permanent in nature. Russia is committed to complying with all provisions of the Treaty and seeks to resume its implementation in full as soon as possible. It is the only working nuclear arms agreement between Russia and the US. It is referred to as a gold standard in arms control. It plays a key role in maintaining strategic stability and preventing an arms race.
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden reaffirmed their countries’ commitment to the New START in the August 1 messages to the participants of the 10th NPT Review Conference. The US president stated that the administration was ready to expeditiously negotiate a new arms control framework. However we have received no concrete proposals from Washington on the resumption of the bilateral dialogue on strategic stability.
Meanwhile the New START Treaty expires in 3.5 years. The historic record of Russian-US negotiations shows that even if both sides are ready, the remaining time to work out an agreement is extremely short. Especially given that on Washington’s initiative the strategic consultations launched in 2021 have been frozen.
Most importantly, any interaction on arms control matters must be conducted on an equal basis, with due consideration for mutual concerns and interests.

Link to the material: https://www.newsweek.com/war-ukraine-pushing-last-us-russia-nuclear-treaty-off-rails-1735371