A week after the New START agreement’s first birthday, US and Russian inspectors simultaneously conducted the year’s first on-site nuclear inspections. “A Russian team arrived here in the United States to start the first inspection under the new treaty year and the US team arrived in Moscow—so happy Valentine’s Day everybody! We’re off to a good start,” said Rose Gottemoeller, the State Department’s acting arms control chief. “The first treaty year went forward in a very business-like, pragmatic, and productive manner” with the United States and Russia often conducting reciprocal verification inspections within days of one another. “If the Russians declared an inspection, we’d be declaring an inspection a day so [later],” Gottemoeller told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “I think the pace of implementation in both countries shows the commitment of both countries to implementing the treaty in a methodical and pragmatic way,” she concluded.
NATO Scrambles Fighter in Newest Response to Russian Drones
Sept. 16, 2025
NATO scrambled its first fighter Sept. 13 under its new plan to bolster its defenses against Russian air incursions that was put into place after an array of Russian drones flew into Polish airspace last week, the officials from the alliance’s military command said.
