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Russian nuclear missile during a military parade in 2020.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his government is withdrawing from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as New START.
It is the last remaining nuclear weapons deal between Russia and the United States, which was extended for five years in 2021.
“I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the treaty on strategic offensive weapons,” Putin said during his state of the nation address.
He said that Russia must be prepared to test nuclear weapons if the United States does so first.
For its part, the US government recently pointed out that Russia violated the treaty by refusing to allow inspections.
Putin made the announcement a day after US President Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine for a surprise visit to show his support for President Volodymyr Zelensky against the Russian invasion.
Next we explain What is the treaty and what consequences can Putin’s decision have? to withdraw from the agreement.
image source, Reuters
What is the N.new START?
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty or New START was designed to prevent nuclear war. Limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads that both countries can deploy and gives each the power to inspect the other.
The agreement was originally signed in 2010 by the then presidents, Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.
The pact establishes that both the United States and Russia can dispose of up to 1,550 long-range nuclear warheads, a figure lower than that of the previous pact, and authorizes the inspection of nuclear facilities.
The agreement entered into force in 2011 and was extended 10 years later. However, the weapons inspections were interrupted by the covid pandemic.
The two former Cold War rivals have nearly all of the world’s nuclear weapons. Russia has previously said it wanted to keep the treaty in place, despite hostile rhetoric from both sides during the Ukraine war.
What can be expected now?
Steve Rosenberg, editor of the BBC in Russia, affirms that the suspension of the Moscow treaty “raises nuclear stakes”.
The word “escalation” has become “President Putin’s watchword,” says Rosenberg.
The New Start “was in trouble. Last month, Washington accused Moscow of violating the agreement by refusing to allow inspection activities on its territory,” recalls the BBC editor.
Although Putin said he would not start nuclear tests “first,” he added that “the United States is testing, we will test it too.”
image source, Reuters
Putin made the announcement in front of legislators of the Russian Parliament, members of the Government, presidents of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and regional governors.
However, Rosenberg points out that the Russian president announced that he signed a decree to “placing new strategic ground complexes on combat reserve duty“.
And he warned that Russia is ready to resume nuclear weapons tests.
“It’s more about nuclear blackmail, but it’s extremely dangerous,” says Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, “because we can’t predict how Putin will behave in the future and what he has in mind.”
“To avoid a nuclear war, it is better to have a framework”he added. “By losing this framework we are witnessing the real threat of nuclear war.”
The US response
Following Putin’s announcement, Biden from Poland reiterated NATO’s commitment to stick together to ensure that “Putin’s yearning and thirst for land and power fail“.
“Putin no longer doubts the strength of our coalition, but he continues to doubt our conviction,” said the US president.
image source, Reuters
President Joe Biden met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the treaty “unfortunate and irresponsible”.
“We will watch closely to see what Russia actually does. Of course, we will make sure that in any case we have a proper posture for the security of our own country and that of our allies,” he told reporters.
However, Blinken left the door open to resume negotiations at any time.
“We remain ready to discuss strategic arms limitations at any time with Russia, regardless of anything else that happens, in the world or in our relationship,” he said.
