During the vice presidential debate in Farmville, Va., on Oct. 4, Tim Kaine said Hillary Clinton “went toe-to-toe with Russia as secretary of state to do the New START agreement to reduce Russia’s nuclear stockpile.”
Our ruling
Kaine said Clinton “went toe-to-toe with Russia as secretary of state to do the New START Agreement to reduce Russia’s nuclear stockpile.”
New START cuts the number of strategic weapons that the United States and Russia can have deployed at any time, and Clinton played a key role in treaty negotiations. However, it does not restrict either country from stockpiling weapons, nor does it require them to destroy any existing weapons.
The treaty hasn’t cut Russia’s nuclear arms yet. But if it does in the future, after the treaty is fully implemented in 2018, it seems that any reductions would be minimal rather than sweeping. And Russia, for the most part, was actually meeting the treaty’s limits when implementation began.
We rate Kaine’s claim Half True.
To read the full fact check, go to politifact.com.