The Federal Law ratifies the Agreement on Renewing the Treaty between Russia and the United States on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms dated April 8, 2010; the Agreement was concluded on January 26, 2021 between Russia and the United States in the form of an exchange of notes.
The Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms was signed for a period of 10 years in Prague on April 8, 2010, entered into force on February 5, 2011, and is valid until February 5, 2021.
The Agreement provides for extending the Treaty for five years to February 5, 2026.
The Treaty is a package of documents, which includes the Treaty itself, a Protocol to it and annexes to the Protocol.
The Treaty establishes limitations and limit levels of strategic offensive arms (START); provisions concerning coverage, deployment, inspection, conversion and elimination of strategic offensive weapons; provisions related to confidence-building measures, information exchange, the use of national technical means of control and cooperation with third countries.
The provisions of the Protocol and its annexes specify the articles of the Treaty and provide the procedure for its implementation.
The Treaty applies to existing types of heavy bombers (HBs), intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), including non-nuclear ICBMs and SLBMs if created, as well as ICBM and SLBM launchers.
The Treaty stipulates that the total number of strategic offensive weapons available to the parties should not exceed:
700 deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and deployed HBs;
1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and deployed HBs equipped for nuclear armaments (each HB is counted as one warhead towards that limit);
800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers and SLBM launchers, as well as deployed and non-deployed HBs.
Implementing the Agreement will not require extra allocations from the federal budget.
Renewing the Treaty meets the national interests of the Russian Federation, makes it possible to maintain the transparency and predictability of strategic relations between Russia and the United States and to support global strategic stability; it will have a beneficial effect on the international situation, and contribute to the nuclear disarmament process.