Less than a year after the war broke out in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended efforts to limit strategic nuclear weapons. In his state of the nation address on Tuesday, he announced before parliament in Moscow that negotiations on the “New Start” nuclear arms control treaty with the United States would be suspended. The agreement aims to limit the two countries’ strategic nuclear arsenals. He accused the West of being to blame for the war with the former Soviet republic.
“We are not withdrawing, but we are suspending our participation,” Putin said of the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) talks. Russia will not test nuclear bombs, but if the US does, so will Russia. “No one should harbor dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed,” the president said. He also stated that a week ago he signed a decree on the use of new strategic ground systems in combat. At first, it wasn’t clear what he meant by that.
The “New Start” treaty was signed in Prague in 2010, entered into force in 2011 and was extended for another five years in 2021, after the inauguration of US President Joe Biden. It limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads the US and Russia can deploy and the deployment of land-based and undersea missiles and bombers to deliver them. The treaty limits both countries’ nuclear arsenals to 800 launch systems and 1,550 operational warheads each. Furthermore, it is regulated that Washington and Moscow can exchange information about their strategic nuclear arsenals and carry out up to 18 verification visits per year.
Together, Russia and the US possess about 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads. (apa)