Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty
SORT (of English S trategic O ffensive R eductions T reaty. "Reductions Treaty Strategic Offensive Arms"), even Moscow Treaty ( Moscow Treaty ), is a disarmament agreement of 2002 between Russia and the United States . It was in effect from June 2003 until it was replaced by the New START agreement in February 2011.
SORT limited the nuclear arsenals to 1700–2200 operational warheads and is one of a number of agreements on nuclear disarmament. However, the agreement has been criticized for several reasons:
- There was no verification mechanism that would allow disarmament steps to be monitored.
- The disarmament obligation only related to warheads that were ready for use. Warheads in storage or warheads that are being serviced did not have to be disarmed.
- The disarmament was not necessarily permanent, warheads can be reactivated.
- The reduction to 2200 warheads did not have to be implemented until the end of the contract (December 31, 2012).
See also
- SALT I (1969–1972)
- ABM Treaty (1972)
- SALT II (1972–1979)
- INF Treaty (1987)
- START I (1991)
- START II (1993)
- START III (New START) (2010)
Web links
- Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation On Strategic Offensive Reductions (The Moscow Treaty). United States Department of State , May 24, 2002, accessed December 26, 2019 .
- Seminar paper with a section on SORT ( Memento from March 25, 2004 in the Internet Archive ; PDF; 43 kB)