Explaining the decision, he noted that the agreement was initially drawn up under completely different circumstances, when Russia and the US did not perceive each other as adversaries…reports Asian Lite News
In a major move, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced that his country was suspending its participation in the New Start treaty – the sole remaining strategic weapons reduction treaty between the US and Russia.
“I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty,” he said in his ‘State of the Nation’ address to the Russian Parliament, RT reported.
President Putin noted that Moscow will not exit the New Start Treaty, which limits each side to 1,550 long-range nuclear warheads, but will temporarily withdraw from it. The treaty, signed in 2010, was extended for five years in 2021.
Explaining the decision, he noted that the agreement was initially drawn up under completely different circumstances, when Russia and the US did not perceive each other as adversaries.
Now, however, according to the President, not only is the US issuing ultimatums to Russia, but NATO itself has essentially made an application to become part of the treaty as well.
The bloc members are now demanding an inspection of Russia’s strategic facilities, Putin said, while Moscow’s requests to inspect Western nuclear facilities under the treaty are systematically denied with only formal explanations for the rejection.
He noted that the US has continued to insist on maintaining hegemony, while its NATO partners openly admit that they want to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
“Russia cannot ignore this. We cannot allow ourselves to ignore this,” he said.
UN urges to resume treaty
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the US and Russia to resume the full implementation of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).
Asked about Guterres’ reaction to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that his country will suspend its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday that the Secretary-General’s position is that the US and Russia should resume the full implementation of the treaty without delay, Xinhua news agency reported.
“The New START and successive bilateral treaties on strategic nuclear arms reduction between the two countries have provided security not only for Russia and the US, but (also) for the entire international community,” Dujarric added.
A world without nuclear arms control is a far more dangerous and unstable one with potentially catastrophic consequences. Every effort should be taken to avoid this outcome, including through an immediate return to dialogue, he told a daily press briefing.
Asked whether Guterres has plans to talk to Putin on the issue of the New START or the conflict in Ukraine, Dujarric said he had nothing to share with reporters at this point.
ALSO READ-NATO calls on Russia to respect nuclear treaty with US