SIPRI announced an increase in the number of deployed nuclear warheads by Russia and the United States

Nuclear powers have increased the number of deployed warheads in 2022, informed Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). As of January this year, the number of warheads stored in military depots for potential use increased by 86 to 9,576.

According to SIPRI, about 2,000 warheads, almost all of which belong to the Russian Federation and the United States, were on high alert, that is, they were installed on missiles or stored at nuclear bomber bases.

As of January 2023, the US had a total of 1,770 warheads deployed. compared from 1744 a year earlier. Russia has increased the number of deployed warheads to 1,674 from 1,588 in 2022. At the same time, the total number of such US weapons has not changed and stands at 3,708 US warheads. Russia has increased its stockpile from 4477 warheads to 4489.

China has increased the number of such warheads from 350 to 410, and North Korea from 25 to 30, although SIPRI stresses that North Korea’s arsenal data may be inaccurate.

In early June, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US was ready to develop an arms control agreement for the period after 2026, and until that time it would continue to comply with the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START), if Russia did so. The need to suspend the treaty was announced in February by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He motivated this decision by saying that under the conditions of a special military operation, US inspections of Russian enterprises and other facilities could be used to the detriment of Russia’s interests.

In the Kremlin considered Sullivan’s “important and positive” statement. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, Russia is open to dialogue on nuclear arms control, but the Kremlin expects that the US readiness for negotiations should be confirmed through diplomatic channels.

START was signed in 2010 by Russian and US Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. The document spoke about the reduction of strategic nuclear forces (SNF) to the level of 700 deployed and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed strategic delivery vehicles. The treaty provided for detailed inspections at the sites of production and deployment of carriers of strategic nuclear weapons and the exchange of telemetry data during testing of new types of missiles.