Putin announces that Russia will suspend its participation in the New START Treaty on nuclear arms reduction.
"We must understand what countries like France and the United Kingdom intend and how we will take into account the combined strike potential of NATO," stated the Russian president.
Sputnik - Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START treaty.
"Today, I am forced to announce that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty. I repeat: we are not withdrawing from the treaty, but rather suspending participation [...] We must understand what countries like France and the United Kingdom intend and how we will take into account their strategic arsenals, that is, the combined strike potential of the alliance [NATO]," Putin stated.
According to Putin, NATO's statement demanding that Russia return to the agreement, including conducting inspections of Russian nuclear infrastructure, is a theater of the absurd.
"At the beginning of February this year, there was a NATO statement demanding that Russia return to compliance with the agreement on strategic weapons [...] Including allowing inspections of our defense and nuclear infrastructure. I don't know how to define this: it's a theater of the absurd. We know that the West is directly involved in the attempts by the Kiev regime to carry out attacks against our strategic air bases," he declared.
Furthermore, Putin stated that the US, through NATO, has issued an ultimatum to Russia regarding the New START treaty: "Comply with everything, but we will act as we please."
Before returning to discussions on the agreement, we must understand how to take into account the nuclear arsenals of France and the United Kingdom, Putin stated.
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