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.
Russia’s suspension of the treaty is “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Athens. Putin’s decision “makes the world more dangerous” and means the entire infrastructure of arms control has been dismantled, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels, urging Russia to reconsider.
