Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday that Russia had been forced to suspend its participation in the new START nuclear arms control treaty because the U.S. was using it to help Ukraine attack Russian strategic sites.
Speaking at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Ryabkov said that the U.S. and its Western allies wanted to see Russia strategically defeated in Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier called the Russian suspension of participation in the treaty "unfortunate and irresponsible."
(With input from Reuters)