Russia 'In Violation Of' New START Correspondence Requirements — State Department

The State Department said on Wednesday it has not received notice from Russia “indicating a change” in nuclear notifications, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We believe Russia to already be in violation of the New START Treaty, but broadly, the U.S. is going to continue to evaluate next steps with regard to Russia’s noncompliance with New START," principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a daily press briefing in response to TURAN's questions.

Washington will "consider additional countermeasures which will be informed by our own national security impact of Russia’s violation and our strategy for bringing Russia back into compliance," Patel went on to add.

Patel's comments came after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted in the media as saying that all types of notifications between Russia and the U.S. under the New START treaty "had been suspended."

However, “we have not received any notice indicating a change,” Patel told TURAN's correspondent.

He went on to add, "As you do probably recall, Russia has informed the U.S. that it will no longer provide notifications under New START as it relates to ballistic missile launches, but it will continue to provide missile launch notifications under the 1988 Ballistic Missile Launch Notifications Agreement, and they have not notified us of any changes to that approach."

Patel also said the U.S. has been “concerned about Russia's reckless behavior" over the treaty.

Alex Raufoglu