The conditions of the START missile treaty signed between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President Joe Biden in January 2021 exposed Russia’s strategic nuclear bomber fleet to the devastating Operation Spiderweb drone attack.

Ukraine initiated a sci-fi-esque attack this week, launching swarms of drones remotely from trucks that destroyed a third of Russia’s long-range nuclear enable bombing fleet parked like sitting ducks on the tarmac in airfields in Irkutsk, deep in Russia’s heartland on June 1. A total of 41 planes were destroyed, most of which were built in Soviet days and are now out of production, so cannot be easily replaced any time soon.

The worst damage was done at the Belaya Air Base in Siberia, although half a dozen different airfields were targeted. More than 4,300 km from the Ukrainian border, the airfields were thought to be well out range from even the longest-range Ukrainian drones, but the authorities have been criticised for leaving the planes out in the open unprotected by hard shelters to shield them from a potential missile or drone strike.

However, experts have pointed out that the terms of the START treaty, the only Cold War security deal to be renewed since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, mean the planes have to be left in the open.

The destroyed planes, that include several Tu-95, Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 Long-Range Strike Bombers that can deliver Russian nuclear bombs to targets thousands of kilometres away, are included in the terms of the deal.

The START Treaty, signed in 2010 and extended by Biden and Putin up until February 4, 2026, contains provisions for the verification of strategic offensive weapons, including heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments. The treaty mandates that these bombers be based at locations visible to national technical means of verification, such as satellite imagery, to allow monitoring by the other party, analyst report.

This implies that strategic bombers should be stationed in a way that makes them observable, typically at designated airbases, to confirm their status – whether they are nuclear-armed or converted to conventional use.

Russia suspended, but did not cancel, its participation in the START treaty after sanctions were imposed on it in 2022, but the Kremlin has held the door open to restarting and reimposing all the Cold War security deals, should a ceasefire agreement be reached with Ukraine and its Western allies. While the mutual inspections of nuclear facilities were suspended in August 2022, the Kremlin is still sticking to the provision that Russia keep its fleet of nuclear-enabled long-distance bombers visible to satellites by parking them out in the open on airfields, albeit very distant from the Ukrainian frontline.

As part of the ongoing ceasefire talks with Ukraine that kicked off in Riyadh on February 18, the Kremlin has said that it is open to renewing the START deal before it expires at the start of next year, but following the drone attack on airfields this week, it may now reconsider that offer.