WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United States announced Monday that it has met the nuclear limits under the Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) Treaty, a strategic arms reduction pact with Moscow, asking Russia to adhere to its commitments.
The treaty was signed by the two nations in 2010 and entered into force on Feb. 5, 2011. The announcement came days after the Pentagon released an aggressive nuclear strategy.
The New START Treaty requires the United States and Russia to meet their committed limits on strategic arms by Feb. 5 this year. It means bringing nuke warhead numbers down to 1,550 and cutting down the number of delivery vehicles like missiles and bombers to 700-800 for each side.
"February 5, 2018 marks the date that the treaty's central limits on each country's strategic nuclear arsenal take effect," U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement.
"The United States completed its reductions and achieved these limits in August 2017" while Russia "has repeatedly stated its commitment to the New START Treaty," Nauert said. "We expect our upcoming data exchange under the Treaty to reaffirm that commitment."
Also on Monday, Russia urged the United States to resume dialogue on missile defense.
"An indestructible connection between strategic offensive arms and missile defense is noted in the preamble of the current START Treaty," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told leading Russian daily Izvestia.
"There was no specific and concrete dialogue on this topic with the Americans for a long time. Now the moment has come when it should be resumed," Ryabkov added.
The U.S. Defense Ministry on Friday published the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, the guiding principle for the role of nuclear arms in U.S. security strategy, seeking an enhanced nuclear arsenal though it is already the world's most powerful one.
