Russia suspends only remaining major nuclear treaty with USVLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Tuesday that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty— the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States — sharply upping the ante amid tensions with Washington over the fighting in Ukraine.
Explaining his decision to suspend Russia's obligations under New START, Putin accused the U.S. and its NATO allies of openly declaring the goal of Russia's defeat in Ukraine.
“They want to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on us and try to get to our nuclear facilities at the same time," he said, declaring his decision to suspend Russia’s participation in the treaty. "In this context, I have to declare today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms.”
New START's official name is The Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg voiced regret about Putin’s move, saying that “with today’s decision on New START, full arms control architecture has been dismantled.”
"I strongly encourage Russia to reconsider its decision and respect existing agreements,” he told reporters.
Putin argued that while the U.S. has pushed for the resumption of inspections of Russian nuclear facilities under the treaty, NATO allies had helped Ukraine mount drone attacks on Russian air bases hosting nuclear-capable strategic bombers.
Putin on Tuesday mocked NATO's statement urging Russia to allow the resumption of the U.S. inspections of Russian nuclear weapons sites as “some kind of theater of the absurd.”
“The drones used for it were equipped and modernized with NATO's expert assistance,” Putin said. “And now they want to inspect our defense facilities? In the conditions of today's confrontation, it sounds like sheer nonsense.”
He said that a week ago he signed an order to deploy new land-based strategic missiles and asked: “Are they also going to poke their noses there?”
The Russian leader also noted that NATO's statement on New START raises the issue of the nuclear weapons of Britain and France that are part of the alliance's nuclear capability but aren't included in the U.S.-Russian pact.
“They are also aimed against us. They are aimed against Russia,” he said. “Before we return to discussing the treaty, we need to understand what are the aspirations of NATO members Britain and France and how we take it into account their strategic arsenals that are part of the alliance's combined strike potential."
Putin's speech is very much a domestic political speech - sort of a "state of the union" - but there is extensive mention of Russia's Special Military Operation in Ukraine, which Putin reffered-to as a "war" for the very first time.
President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of starting the war in Ukraine and trying to turn it into a global conflict against Russia in a bid to gain 'limitless power' in his annual state-of-the-nation address.
'We were doing everything possible to solve this problem peacefully, negotiating a peaceful way out of this difficult conflict, but behind our backs a very different scenario was being prepared,' Putin told lawmakers from Russia's parliament.
He said he was addressing them 'at a time which we all know is a difficult, watershed moment for our country, a time of cardinal, irreversible changes around the world, the most important historic events that will shape the future of our country and our people,' and vowed to 'systematically' continue with the offensive in Ukraine.
His speech comes days before the war in Ukraine passes the one-year mark on Friday. Putin ordered his forces into the country on February 24, 2022 in what he calls a 'special military operation' instead of a war.
Highlights: (So far)
“It is “Them” that unleashed this War not Russia.”
PUTIN: THE PEOPLE OF THE WEST ARE USED AS A TOOL OF LIES
Putin: "The Elites of the West are going crazy; They do not care who they sign on to fight Russia, terrorists, Nazis or the devil. "People in the West are going mad, and this does not seem to be treatable.""
Putin: The existence of our country is at stake.
Putin: The West has opened up to the Nazis in Germany, and now they have started making Ukraine an anti-Russian project. This design is rooted in the 19th century, as in the case of Austria-Hungary and Poland. Their goal is to snatch our historic lands from us.
The longer the range of the weapons sent to Ukraine, the further we need to push the line away from Russia.
PUTIN: THE WEST WANTS TO TAKE US OFF THE MAP
Putin: Look at what they are doing in the West. Pedophilia becomes the norm.
PUTIN: THE WEST HIDES BEHIND THE LABEL OF DEMOCRACY AND RULE IN A TOTALITARIAN FASHION, SUPPRESSING THEIR OWN PEOPLE
"Many people in the West see that they're being led towards spiritual destruction"
"Anti-Russian sanctions are only a means, while the goal is, as Western leaders themselves declare, and I quote: 'to make our citizens suffer’. That's what kind of 'humanists' they are. They want to make people suffer in order to destabilize our society from within. But they miscalculated badly," Putin said.
Putin: We will do everything for Victory
Russian nuclear forces are modernized and ready for defense
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