Live News Updates: Russia to suspend inspections of its nuclear weapons under treaty with US

Russia said it would suspend US inspections of its nuclear weapons under a key treaty with the United States because of Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow told the United States on Monday it could no longer participate in inspections under the New Start Treaty, the last major arms control agreement remaining between the countries, the State Department said in a statement.

It blamed bans on Russian planes entering Western airspace and the difficulty of obtaining visas for transit in third countries, which it said had made it difficult for its inspectors to travel to the United States. Russia also claimed that the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the United States meant that further visits would be risky to the health of its delegates.

Russia insisted it was committed to all provisions of the treaty, which it called “extremely important” for global security. It said the suspensions were temporary and that it would lift them “after the problematic issues are resolved”.

However, the development casts doubt on the future of the treaty less than a week after US President Joe Biden proposed renewing it before its 2026 expiry date.

New Start, signed in 2011, limits the number of nuclear warheads the US and Russia can use, as well as the intercontinental ballistic missiles, anti-submarine ballistic missiles and heavy bombers used to deliver them.

Although President Vladimir Putin said last week that a nuclear war should never be fought, Russia claimed the United States was not negotiating in good faith and accused it of pulling out of strategic stability talks after the invasion of Ukraine.