United States | Mistrust, don’t verify

Perils grow as America and Russia stop sharing data on nukes

The war in Ukraine is destroying what remains of arms control

FILE - In this file photo taken from a video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, on Dec. 9, 2020, a rocket launches from missile system as part of a ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile test launched from the Plesetsk facility in northwestern Russia. The United States and Russia have stopped sharing biannual nuclear weapons data under the faltering New START arms control treaty. U.S. officials say they had offered to continue to provide such information to Russia even after President Vladimir Putin suspended Russia's participation in the treaty, but that Moscow had declined to share its own data. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
Don’t worry, it’s only a testImage: AP
|WASHINGTON, DC

Bit by bit, the fabric of nuclear arms control is being rent. America has done much tearing, for example by abandoning the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. But with its invasion of Ukraine, and its threats to use nukes, Russia has slashed away at what remains.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Mistrust, don’t verify”

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