MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti) -- Russia's Defense Ministry is considering a ban on US inspections of Russian nuclear weapons under the New START deal over the standoff in Ukraine, a ministry source told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
| They got everything they wanted from START, why not break the deal? We substantially decreased the number of warheads we held, the Russians didn't. Now's the time for them to laugh about it. |
The New START, signed in 2010 by US President Barack Obama and his Russian then-counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, envisages curbing nuclear arsenals of both countries by half by 2021. The treaty's implementation is overseen, in addition to satellite and remote monitoring, by 18 on-site inspections a year.
The United States has not conducted any inspections under the New START since the start of this year, according to the US Department of State's website.