Russia suspends participation in major nuclear deal

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow would suspend its participation in the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear nonproliferation pact with the United States. The announcement raised the stakes amid tension with Washington over the war in Ukraine.

In his state of the nation address, Putin said Russia must be ready to resume nuclear weapons testing if the United States did, a move that would end the global nuclear test ban. nuclear weapons in place since the Cold War.

Explaining his decision to suspend Russia’s obligations under the New START treaty, Putin accused the United States and its NATO allies of openly declaring the goal of defeating Russia in Ukraine.

“They want to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on us and at the same time try to gain access to our nuclear facilities,” Putin said.

Putin argued that as the United States pushed to resume inspections of Russian nuclear facilities under the treaty, NATO allies helped Ukraine mount drone strikes against Russian airbases. housing nuclear-capable strategic bombers.

“The drones used for this were equipped and modernized with the help of NATO experts,” Putin said. “And now they want to inspect our defense installations? In the current conditions of confrontation, it looks like pure nonsense.”

Putin stressed that Russia was suspending its participation in New START, but not completely withdrawing from the pact.

The New START treaty, signed in 2010 by US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits the two countries to no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 deployed bombers and missiles. The agreement includes thorough inspections to verify compliance.

Just days before the treaty expires in February 2021, Russia and the United States agreed to extend it for another five years.

Russia and the United States have suspended mutual New START inspections since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Moscow last fall refused to resume them, increasing uncertainty about the future. of the agreement. Russia has also indefinitely postponed a series of planned consultations associated with the treaty.