President Vladimir Putin said Russia will suspend its observation of the New START treaty with the U.S., dealing a blow to the last accord limiting their nuclear arsenals, as he vowed to press on with his faltering invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is fighting for its “historic lands” in Ukraine and “will fulfill the tasks set step-by-step, carefully and consistently,” Putin told the Russian parliament and top officials in Moscow on Tuesday. Russia won’t be the first to resume testing of nuclear weapons as a result of its suspension of New START, though it will do so in response to any U.S. test, he said.
The Foreign Ministry later said Russia will continue to observe the treaty’s limits on weapons until it expires and participate in the exchanges of data it mandates. Russia’s decision to suspend the treaty “can be reversible,” the ministry said in a statement on website.
