Putin vs Biden: What is New START treaty? Here's all you need to know

Vladimir Putin suspended Russia's participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States, here's all you need to know

Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Russia's participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States.

Putin, while announcing Russia's exit from the last remaining arms reduction pact between the Washington and Moscow, accused the West of being directly involved in attempts to strike its strategic air bases.  

What is the New START treaty?

The New START treaty is a nuclear arms reduction treaty that came into force in 2011. Signed between between the two former Cold war rivals -- United States of America and the Russian Federation -- on "Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms", the treaty puts legally binding strategic offensive limits on both Russia and US.

What are the strategic offensive limits?

• A maximum of 700 long-range missiles and bombers can be deployed in intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), deployed submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments;
• Only 1,550 nuclear warheads can be deployed by US and Russia on "deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments (each such heavy bomber is counted as one warhead toward this limit)"
• Up to 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armament.  

The treaty was initially signed for ten years till 2021, but it was extended by five more years till 2026. The treaty mandated that the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers will be reduced by half. It also provided for a new inspection and verification regime that replaced the previous SORT mechanism.

However, the inspections under the treaty were put on hold in March 2020 because of the Covid-19-induced pandemic. The talks for resuming inspections were due November 2022, but were postponed by Russia and have been pending since then.

US and Russia account for about 90 per cent of the world's nuclear warheads.

Russia’s decision to suspend the nuclear arms control treaty was irresponsible and the United States will watch carefully to see what Moscow actually does, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Athens.

“We remain ready to talk about strategic arms limitations at any time with Russia, irrespective of anything else going on, in the world or in our relationship,” Blinken added.

Putin in his address on Tuesday sent out a nuclear warning to the West over Ukraine war and announced that new strategic systems had been put on combat duty and warned that Russia could resume nuclear tests.

Timeline on arms-reduction treaties:

• SALT or Strategic Arms Limitation Talks-1: The treaty came into force in 1969. Under this both US and USSR pledged not to construct new Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) silos, not to increase the size of existing ICBM silos significantly, and capped the number of Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) launch tubes and SLBM-carrying submarines.
• START or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty-1: The treaty was signed in 1991 required the destruction of excess delivery vehicles, which was verified through on-site inspections, the regular exchange of information, and the use of satellites.
• START-II or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty-2: The treaty was signed in 1993 to reduce deployed strategic arsenals to 3,000-3,500 warheads and banned the deployment of destabilising multiple-warhead land-based missiles.
• SORT or Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty: In 2004, the United States and Russia reduced their strategic arsenals to 1,700-2,200 warheads each under this treaty.
• New START or New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty: The predecessor to the New START treaty was signed in 2010. It was a legally binding, verifiable agreement that limits each side to 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on 700 strategic delivery systems (ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers) and limits deployed and non-deployed launchers to 800. It came into force in 2011 and was extended in 2021 for five more years. The treaty allowed both US and Russian inspectors to ensure that both sides are complying with the treaty. Each side could conduct up to 18 inspections of strategic nuclear weapons sites every year to ensure the other has not breached the treaty's limits.