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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow, Russia, February 21, 2023. /CFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that Russia is suspending its participation in rather than withdrawing from the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the United States.
In early February, NATO demanded that Russia "return to the implementation" of the New START and allow inspections of its nuclear facilities. That "sounds like some kind of nonsense amid today's confrontation," Putin said in his annual address to the Federal Assembly.
He referred to the combined strike potential of NATO, as Britain and France also have nuclear arsenal that poses a threat to Russia. Meanwhile, Moscow has information that "certain figures in Washington" are considering nuclear weapon tests to develop new types of nuclear weapons.
"In this situation, the Russian Defense Ministry and Rosatom (Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation) must ensure readiness for testing Russian nuclear weapons. Of course, we will not be the first to do this. But if the United States conducts a test, then so will we," the president said.
Signed by then-U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in 2010, the New START is the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty in force between the two nuclear superpowers.
It caps the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy and was due to expire in 2026.
The New START Treaty limited both sides to 1,550 warheads on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles and heavy bombers. Both sides met the central limits by 2018.
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Putin accuses West of threatening Russia's very existence with Ukraine conflict
(With input from agencies)
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Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466