SORT
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The Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions (SORT) is a 2002 treaty between Russia and the United States limiting their nuclear arsenal to 2200 operationally deployed warheads each. It is the latest in a long line of treaties and negotiations on mutual nuclear disarmament between Russia (and its predecessor the Soviet Union) and the United States, which includes SALT I (1969-1972), ABM Treaty (1972), SALT II (1972-1979), INF Treaty (1987), START I (1991) and START II (1993).
The treaty is criticized for various reasons:
- There are no verification provisions.
- The reductions are not required to be permanent; warheads may be placed in storage and later redeployed.
- The reductions are required to be completed only by the time the treaty expires.