— France confirms support for strategic arms control between countries with nuclear weapons and their largest arsenals, said Pascal Confavreux, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
A representative of French diplomacy explained that Paris's appeal applies not only to Russia and the United States, but also to China.
Why is France appealing to the nuclear powers?
What will happen after the New START Treaty expires?
What were the goals of the New START Treaty?
Who is responsible for failure to comply with international standards?
The treaty will not be extended. “For the first time since the Cold War”
The US-Russian New START treaty aimed at limiting strategic arms expires on Thursday. — From tomorrow, for the first time since the Cold War, any limit on the largest nuclear arsenals in the world will disappear, pointed out Pascal Confavreux.
The spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that this process was preceded by further steps backward in compliance with international norms intended to maintain strategic stability, for which “Russia is responsible.” In February 2023, Vladimir Putin suspended his country's participation in the agreement.
Pascal Confavreux also called on Russia to comply with its obligations arising from the declaration on the prevention of nuclear war and arms race. It was adopted on January 3, 2022 by five countries: the USA, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom.
New START Treaty. The goal was to limit nuclear weapons
The New START Treaty (New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) obliged the US and Russia to limit the number of their nuclear warheads for deployed ICBM and SLBM missiles to a total of 1,550 pieces. This limit includes heavy bomber aircraft, where a given aircraft is considered a single warhead.
The agreement also established a total limit of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM and SLBM launchers, as well as heavy bomber aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons, with the total number of deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and heavy bomber aircraft not to exceed 700.
France is the only European Union country with its own nuclear weapons.
