The history of U.S.-Russia arms control talks spans more than fifty years, beginning in the late 1960s amid Cold War tensions. Negotiations first took shape in 1969 with the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), which culminated in 1972 with the signing of two key agreements: the Interim Agreement on strategic offensive arms and the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. These agreements marked the first formal efforts to limit certain categories of nuclear weapons held by the two superpowers.
Following the initial SALT agreements, further efforts continued throughout the 1970s, leading to the completion of SALT II in 1979. This treaty aimed to impose more stringent limits on strategic offensive arms, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). However, SALT II was never formally ratified by the United States due to geopolitical tensions, including the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, though both sides generally adhered to its limits for a time.
In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. This accord required both nations to eliminate their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The U.S. Senate approved the treaty in 1988 amid hopes that it would reduce the risk of nuclear conflict in Europe.
The post-Cold War era saw further agreements. On May 24, 2002, Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), also known as the Moscow Treaty. SORT established limits on operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads but lacked the detailed verification mechanisms of earlier treaties.
In 2010, a landmark agreement known as New START replaced SORT. Signed in Prague on April 8, 2010, it entered into force on February 5, 2011, after ratification by both countries. New START set comprehensive limits on deployed strategic nuclear warheads, delivery vehicles, and included inspection and verification provisions designed to increase transparency. The treaty provided each side seven years to meet its central limits.
Beyond these major treaties, the United States and Russia also participated in the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which both signed on July 1, 1968. This treaty seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and promote peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Over the decades, these agreements formed a framework aimed at managing the strategic rivalry between the two nations and reducing the risk of nuclear war. Despite periods of tension and the abandonment or suspension of some agreements, such as the U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty in 2019, the history of arms control talks reveals sustained efforts to regulate nuclear arsenals through diplomatic negotiation.
