Russian officials have assured Wednesday that they notified the United States of the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, after Moscow claimed that the suspension of New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) commitments also affected notifications, so it did not feel obliged to inform Washington of its tests.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov noted that »all notifications on the launches of the intercontinental ballistic missile and the submarine-launched ballistic missile were sent, as usual,» as reported by the Russian news agency Interfax.
The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the missile was launched on Tuesday from the Kapustin Yar test site in the Astrakhan region (south) and emphasized that the purpose of the launch is to test advanced combat equipment of intercontinental ballistic missiles to confirm the correctness of the circuit design and technical solutions used in the development of new missile systems.
At the end of March, Riyabkov himself said that »all» aspects of an agreement that in recent years has been key to calming mutual misgivings between the Cold War powers had been suspended. In this line, he emphasized that there will be no exchange of data and no inspections of U.S. equipment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in February the suspension of New START in the midst of escalating political tensions over the war in Ukraine. Without this treaty, the arsenals of the world’s two largest nuclear powers are technically unrestricted, something unheard of since the 1970s.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
