US President Joe Biden’s administration has reportedly accused Russia of violating the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty between the two countries by blocking on-site inspections.
The US State Department made the allegation – marking the first US claim that Moscow breached terms of the New START treaty – in a report sent to Congress on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The report also claimed that Russian officials had rejected US requests to hold a meeting to address compliance concerns.
“Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control,” the State Department said in a statement to Reuters.
The conflict may add to concerns that the world’s two largest nuclear superpowers may no longer be able to work together on nonproliferation goals amid deteriorating relations between Washington and Moscow. The Kremlin said earlier this month that US-Russian relations were probably at an all-time low and offered no hope of improving as Washington intervened against Moscow in the Ukraine crisis.