ENC experts breakdown the end of the ‘START’ treaty

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - The ‘START’ treaty is the last remaining pact that puts limits on the number of nuclear weapons both the U.S. and Russia can have.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he is pulling his country out of that agreement with the United States.

“I see it as a very negative development,” says ECU Social Securities Director, Armin Krishnan.

The ‘START’ treaty is responsible for limiting the amount of nuclear arms Russia and the United States are able to have.

Hanna Kassab, one ECU Political Science expert says, “It’s an acknowledgment or an agreement between the United States and Russia to limit the size of the nuclear arsenals and also restrict some of their capabilities regarding bombers, strategic bombers.”

The treaty also allows both countries to inspect each other’s nuclear facilities creating trust on both sides.

“The important thing about START is, it allows both countries to gain trust given each other’s very difficult relationship in the past for the past 90 years,” Kassab says.

Though Kassab believes transparency is key to maintaining a healthy relationship between the two, Putin’s retraction from the treaty could cause more problems than solutions.

Krishnan told WITN, “We could be moving back to a situation where there is a nuclear arms race since both sides are no longer bound to any limits, they can increase the number of nuclear weapons as they see fit.”

Now the key factor missing in the relationship between the United States and Russia is trust, according to Kassab.

“Transparency is trust. To trust someone means that you don’t hide anything from that person. It’s like a relationship. You want to be completely forthright and transparent in that way so that the other party doesn’t think that you are cheating.”

The treaty was last extended in 2021 for 5 years which meant that both Russia and the U.S. would need to begin negotiating another arms control agreement.

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