Russia's non-compliance with the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Weapons (SNU-3) and Moscow's statement on suspending the implementation of the provisions of this treaty are "irresponsible and shameful", according to the published statement of the State Department.

Moreover, Russia's statement on the suspension of SNU-3 is legally invalid.

As a result, Russia remains bound by its obligations under the treaty.

The State Department emphasized that the United States is still ready to work constructively with Russia for the full implementation of the treaty.

The State Department's statement provides evidence that the Kremlin's claims are invalid.

Russia violates several provisions of SNU-3 at once, refusing, in particular, to carry out inspections, although the agreement requires each side to accept 18 inspections a year.

In addition, Russia refuses to meet in the treaty's implementation body, the Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC), despite repeated requests from the US.

Participation in such meetings is another requirement of the contract.


Russia has stopped sending treaty-stipulated notifications about the status and movements of its nuclear forces.

This clause of the treaty guarantees mutual transparency and predictability of both sides regarding their strategic nuclear forces.

Although the United States believes that Russia has not engaged in significant activities outside the scope of the treaty in 2022, Moscow's refusal to allow inspections and notifications reduces the ability of the United States to assess the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons.

The State Department emphasized that Russia could easily remedy the situation by resuming compliance with the treaty requirements, as it has been for many years: conducting inspections, holding meetings at the KSTR, and providing notifications and data.

The United States does not refuse Russia to carry out inspections on American territory: immediately after the lifting of restrictions related to the COVID pandemic, Washington made it clear to Moscow that Russian inspectors can freely visit objects of interest to them.


The State Department also refuted Russia's claim that US actions to re-equip launchers for submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) ​​and B-52H heavy bombers do not comply with the provisions of SNU-3.

"These statements are false.

The actions of the United States to re-equip launchers of SLBMs and heavy bombers render the re-equipped facilities incapable of using nuclear weapons," the statement emphasizes.

All details of the conversion process and its results were documented and transferred to the Russian side.

"Russia's accusations of non-fulfilment of the treaty by the United States are baseless attempts to divert attention from Russia's own actions and do not provide Russia with strong legal grounds to suspend the treaty," the State Department added.

The statement says that the United States was ready for constructive work at the meeting of the Security Council, which was supposed to take place in November 2022, but Moscow suddenly canceled its participation.

In addition, the US response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine does not absolve Moscow of its responsibility for fulfilling its legal obligations under SNU-3.

"Russia's failure to comply and the proposed suspension of the SNU-3 will not prevent the United States from continuing to provide full support to Ukraine," the State Department said, stressing that "nuclear stability is especially important during crises, and the United States will continue to work to maintain it."