Russia suspended the nuclear disarmament pact

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday froze his country’s compliance with the latest nuclear disarmament treaty still in force between Russia and the US, New START, or START III, and announced that he was preparing for a long military campaign in Ukraine.

“They want to inflict a strategic defeat on us and are entering our nuclear facilities. Therefore, I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Offensive Weapons Treaty,” he said. Putin in his speech on the state of the nation of both houses of parliament.

During the hour and 45 minutes of his speech, he did not mention a possible dialogue, he defended “Russia’s right to be strong” and accused the West of being solely responsible for geopolitical tensions in the world, including in Ukraine.

The gauntlet was immediately accepted by NATO, whose Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, condemned that Russia’s decision dismantled “the entire architecture of arms control.”

Putin, who insists that Moscow has hypersonic weapons unmatched in the world, qualified that “Russia is not giving up, it is only suspending” compliance with the treaty signed in 2010, which was extended in 2021 by the Russian leader and US President Joe Biden and expires in 2026 .

Among other things, new START reduces the number of nuclear warheads by 30%, to 1550 per country.

He emphasized that “if the US conducts nuclear tests with a new type of strategic weapon, Russia will also conduct tests” of that class.

“Of course, we will not be the first to do so (…). No one should entertain the dangerous illusion that strategic global parity can be destroyed,” he commented.

Vladimir PutinPutin rejected as a “theatre of the absurd” the statement in which NATO demands that Russia respect the aforementioned treaty and advocated the inclusion of the Atlantic Alliance in New START since, he reminded, FFrance and Great Britain also have strategic arsenals.

The US suspended the arms control dialogue after the start of the “special military operation” almost a year ago, and the last attempt to resume in November last year was postponed indefinitely. by Moscow.

In addition, Russia informed Washington in August of its decision to ban on-site US inspections of its nuclear arsenal, citing difficulties in doing the same in the US due to Western sanctions.

Eye, Russian MPs and senators dismissed Putin’s decision as a “threat to global security” but a warning to the West.

“Nuclear powers do not lose wars” said Leonid Slutsky, head of the Duma’s committee on foreign affairs.