Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START) is yet another attempt at nuclear blackmail by Moscow. About this in an interview published on February 23 “Ukrainian Truth” said the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov.
“This is another attempt at manipulation and, unfortunately, nuclear blackmail of the world already familiar to everyone. I emphasize: not Ukraine, but an attempt to nuclear blackmail the world. In the current situation, in fact, what can this mean? Nothing. Because the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation is now is not capable of producing progressive types of missile weapons in sufficient quantities, especially for strategic and operational-tactical purposes. That is, if such a statement had been made somewhere even before February 24, 2022, then yes, one could seriously think about it,” he said. Budanov.
He stressed that a year of full-scale war completely destroyed “the faith of the world community” in the power of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation.
“Can they develop, say, some kind of prototype of something? For example, operational-tactical missile weapons or medium-range strategic weapons? After all, when they mention such things, they usually talk about ballistic missiles with a launch range in the region of 5000 km “Well, theoretically, they can develop one or two. And what’s next? If you go into a race of such weapons, Russia does not even have a theoretical chance to compete with the West. Now they cannot satisfy their armed forces with conventional weapons – why go into high-tech?” – said the head of the GUR.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, addressing the Federal Assembly, said on February 21 that Moscow was suspending participation in the START treaty.
He stressed that Russia is not withdrawing from the treaty, namely, it is suspending its participation until it understands “what such countries of the North Atlantic Alliance as France and Great Britain are claiming, and how we will take into account their strategic arsenals, that is, the combined strike potential of the Alliance” .
Putin also accused the US of allegedly developing new types of nuclear weapons. In this regard, he said, Russia should be ready to conduct nuclear tests.
US President Joe Biden said that such a move by Putin was a “big mistake”.
START III entered into force in 2011. He provides reduction of US and Russian nuclear warheads to 1550 units, intercontinental ballistic missiles, ballistic missiles for submarines and heavy bombers – to 700 units. The contract was designed for 10 years with a possible extension for another five. According to the agreement, the US and Russia are allowed to conduct inspections of each other’s weapons facilities, but since 2020 they have been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The START agreement was due to expire on February 5, 2021, but the two governments announced a five-year extension two days before that deadline.
