Nuclear Program Policies and START Treaty

The U.S. Senate on December 22, 2010 ratified the historic New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty by 71-26 votes. The treaty was signed in April 2010 by the U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev. The 10-year treaty succeeds 1991 START Treaty. Under the New START treaty, the U.S. and Russia are required to reduce their nuclear stockpiles--capping strategic warheads at 1,550 for each nation within seven years of ratification and 700 launchers. It will also resume on-site inspections that had lapsed with the original treaty. The New START lowers the ceilings set by the previous treaties such as bringing down the maximum allowable warheads, under the 2002 Treaty of Moscow, from 2,200 (as of 2012) to 1,550 and reducing the cap for launchers, under 1991 START treaty that expired in 2009, from 1,600 to 700.

Source: The Dallas Morning News; The New York Times

Coming on the heels of a week shy of the 50th anniversary of a major speech by the then-US President John F. Kennedy near the Berlin Walls denouncing Communism, President Barack Obama on June 19, 2013 warned the world against any complacency and called for further cuts in both strategic and tactical warheads by both USA and Russia. The speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate was part motivational, part a renewed political push for global emission control in the wake of more definite proofs in recent days of potential climate change. According to the Federation of Scientists, the stockpiles of nuclear weapons by countries are as follows:

All Figures are as of 2013

Russia              8,500
USA                 7,700
France                 300
China                  250
UK                      225
Pakistan              100-120
India                     90-110
Israel                     80
North Korea         < 10


Russia Accuses U.S. of Flouting the Key Agreement
Russia on February 5, 2018 questioned the U.S. compliance with the New START agreement signed in 2010, entered into force a year later and became effective during the day (on February 5, 2018). Russia accused Washington of manipulating the configuration of its current weapons fleet to evade scrutiny while retaining the same lethal powers. The 2010 New START agreement called for each nation to restrict the number of deployed:
* Strategic nuclear warhead to 1,550
* Intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers to 700
The Russian Foreign Ministry on February 5, 2018 put out its own record of compliance: 1,444 in the first category and 527 in the second category.