Russia questions US compliance with key nuke accord

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday congratulated the US and Russia on successfully reducing their strategic nuclear forces to the level required by the new START treaty.

"The secretary-general stresses that at a time when global anxieties about nuclear weapons are higher than at any time since the Cold War, efforts in nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control are more vital than ever," said Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric. "These endeavors can play significant roles in building trust and confidence, and preventing, mitigating and resolving conflicts."

The UN chief called on the US and Russia to engage in the necessary dialogue that will lead to further arsenal reductions and to continue to display "the historic leadership across the multilateral disarmament agenda that has proven so valuable to our collective security," said Dujarric in a statement.

The Russian nuclear submarine Dmitry Donskoy is moored near Kronstadt, 30 km west of St Petersburg, Russia, July 29, 2017.

New START, officially called Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, reduces deployed nuclear weapons to 700 delivery vehicles and 1,550 warheads. The treaty, signed in April 2010 in Prague, the Czech Republic, entered into force in February 2011. It is expected to last at least until 2021.

Russia questions US compliance

However, Russia challenged US compliance with the treaty on Monday and warned that the Trump administration's new nuclear strategy lowers the threshold for using atomic weapons.

The 39th and final B-52G Stratofortress, tail number 58-0224, accountable under the New START Treaty with Russia, is shown at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, May 21, 2015.

The dire assessment came as Moscow said it has met its own requirements under the New START agreement. The deadline to verify both countries' compliance was Monday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it now has 527 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers. It gave a tally of 1,444 strategic nuclear warheads. The US reported it has been in compliance with the limits since August.

Russia acknowledged the US position on meeting the targets, but voiced concern about the US reconfiguring some submarines and bombers to carry conventional weapons. The Foreign Ministry said it doesn't have a way to confirm the reconfigured hardware was rendered incapable of carrying nuclear weapons.

Washington also "arbitrarily converted" some underground missile launch sites into training facilities, which wasn't spelled out in the treaty, the ministry said. It urged the US work with Russia to resolve such matters.

The US State Department insisted America was fully adhering to the deal.

"To meet the central limits of the treaty, the United States developed and utilized conversion procedures in full compliance with its treaty obligations," it said, adding it would cooperate with Russia to "address technical questions and issues related to the ongoing implementation of New START."

Russian Tu-22M-3 long-range bombers fly during the Victory Day military parade marking 71 years after the victory in WWII in Red Square in Moscow, May 9, 2016.

Russia-US ties have been miserable for several years, but nuclear weapons reduction has been a strong point. The former Cold War foes have clashed most notably over Russia's conduct in Ukraine, the Syrian civil war and allegations Moscow meddled in the 2016 US presidential election. The Trump administration's pivot to a new nuclear strategy could now affect arms control cooperation.

Last week, the Trump administration announced it would continue much of President Barack Obama's nuclear policy, while adopting a more aggressive stance toward Russia. Russia must be convinced it would face "unacceptably dire costs" for threatening even a limited nuclear attack in Europe, the new policy states.

The Pentagon-led review made clear the administration's view that Russian policies and actions are fraught with potential for miscalculation that could lead to an uncontrolled escalation of conflict in Europe.

It specifically pointed to a Russian doctrine known as "escalate to de-escalate," in which Moscow would use or threaten to use smaller-yield nuclear weapons in a limited, conventional conflict in Europe to compel the US and NATO to back down. Consequently, the review said the US would modify "a small number" of existing long-range ballistic missiles carried by Trident strategic submarines to fit them with smaller-yield nuclear warheads.

Russia slammed the US report, saying it was founded on false assumptions about Moscow's intentions and contained worrying modernization plans.

The US Nuclear Posture Review puts "in question our right to defend ourselves against an aggression that threatens the country's survival," the Foreign Ministry said in a weekend statement. "We would like to hope that Washington is aware of the high level of danger when such doctrinal provisions move to the level of practical military planning."

The ministry said Russia's military doctrine envisages the use of nuclear weapons to deter an aggression that threatens "the very existence of our state." It said Washington, however, took a no-limits approach that could mean using nuclear weapons in "extreme circumstances" beyond defense against military operations.

"Even military scenarios are presented so ambiguously that it seems like the US planners may view practically any use of military capability as a reason for delivering a nuclear strike against anyone they consider an 'aggressor,'" the ministry said.

It said US plans to develop new low-yield nuclear weapons "will greatly increase the temptation of using them, especially considering the right to a disarming first strike as set out in the new US doctrine."

"Assurances that the implementation of these plans will not lower the nuclear threshold can at least be interpreted as a desire to delude the international community," the ministry said.

"It is even more frightening that the US military and other national security professionals firmly believe in their ability to model conflict scenarios that involve low-yield nuclear options. Quite to the contrary, we believe that this dramatic lowering of the threshold conditions can provoke a nuclear missile war even in a low-intensity conflict."

(CGTN)