During his annual address to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country is suspending its participation in, rather than withdrawing from, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the United States.
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"If the United States conducts nuclear tests with a new type of strategic weapon, Russia will carry out such tests as well," Putin said, criticizing Washington for failing to comply with the treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons, which was due to expire in 2026.
"Of course, we will not be the first to do so... No one should harbor the dangerous illusion that strategic global parity can be destroyed," he added.
The Russian leader dismissed as "theatre of the absurd" the statement through which the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) demanded that Russia comply with the New START, which includes inspections of its nuclear facilities.
Putin has called on the Atlantic Alliance to become part of the New START as countries like the UK and France also have nuclear arsenals.
In February 2021, the Russian president and the U.S. President Joe Biden extended for five years the 2010 nuclear disarmament treaty. The New START, which specifically includes a stockpile inspection system, was expected to reduce the number of nuclear warheads by 30 percent to only 1,550 nuclear warheads per country.
In November 2022, the United States and Russia were to resume strategic nuclear dialogue in Cairo. However, Putin decided to indefinitely postpone that meeting due to Washington's unwillingness to take Russian priorities into account.