Putin: Russia cannot ignore NATO’s nuclear capabilities

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview broadcast Sunday that Russia had no choice but to heed NATO’s nuclear capabilities, in remarks justifying the recent suspension by the Russia of its participation in the New START Treaty.

As he did repeatedly during the war in Ukraine, Putin claimed that Russia faced an existential threat because, in his view, NATO members were seeking the country’s “strategic defeat”. He told Russian state television that the suspension of New START was due to the need to “guarantee security, strategic stability” of Russia.

“When all the major NATO countries have declared that their main objective is to inflict a strategic defeat on us… How can we ignore their nuclear capabilities under these conditions?” Putin said.

Putin’s main goal in invading Ukraine a year ago was to reduce what he perceived to be threats to Russia’s security, and he sometimes used that as justification for threatening to use weapons nuclear weapons in the conflict.

Putin on Tuesday announced Russia’s suspension of the 2010 treaty, saying his country could not agree to US inspections of its nuclear facilities under the pact as Washington and its NATO allies seek Russia’s defeat. in Ukraine. The Russian president has stressed that Moscow is not withdrawing from the pact entirely, and the Russian Foreign Ministry has said that the country will respect the limits imposed by the treaty on nuclear weapons and will continue to notify the United States of launches. ballistic missile tests.

In the interview with Russia 1 TV broadcast on Sunday – two days after the first anniversary of the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – Putin said that although NATO countries are not parties to the treaty, they were part of the “discussions on the subject”, which Moscow does not oppose, especially since it cannot ignore the nuclear capabilities of the military alliance.