According to the State Department, the Biden administration on Tuesday declassified US nuclear reserves, revealing that as of September last year, the US had about 3,750 nuclear warheads in its arsenal.
“The United States has released new declassified information on its nuclear weapons stockpile to update the information previously released in September 2017,” he said. State Department In the statement.
NS The stockpile of 3,750 nuclear warheads has declined by about 88% since reaching a maximum of more than 31,255 warheads in 1967.It also A decrease of 83 percent from the level at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989.
“Increasing the transparency of a country’s nuclear reserves is a non-proliferation and disarmament effort, including promises under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and deployed and undeployed, strategic and non-strategic. It is important for efforts to tackle all types of nuclear weapons, including those, “said the State Department.
According to the agency, between 1994 and 2020, the United States dismantled about 11,683 nuclear warheads, and since September 2017, about 700 nuclear warheads have been dismantled. Currently, about 2,000 additional warheads are currently being discontinued and will be dismantled.
According to a non-profit organization Nuclear Threat InitiativeRussia currently has more than 6,300 nuclear warheads, including those awaiting dismantling, and the Heritage Foundation has stated that Moscow “relies heavily on nuclear weapons” to offset the perceived inferiority of traditional military power. I have. “
Earlier this month, Russian officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin was no longer considering a joint US-Moscow freeze on nuclear weapons production.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Geneva Center for Security Policy, “No, it was a one-time offer and the United States was told that it had missed the opportunity,” according to Russian state media. rice field. “They didn’t want to freeze all the warheads — they wanted very intrusive verification and control at all our nuclear facilities.”
And in 2019, both Moscow and Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The only US-Russia arms control treaty still standing is the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The agreement limits the number of nuclear warheads deployed by each country to 1,550 and the number of missiles and bombers to 700 or less, and envisions a thorough on-site inspection to verify compliance.
As for China, the Nuclear Threat Initiative says that the Chinese administration has only about 320 nuclear warheads in its arsenal. It’s unclear what the actual numbers are, as the administration “strictly adheres to information about nuclear weapons,” but nonprofits point out.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jack phillips
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Jack Phillips is a New York-based reporter for The Epoch Times.