President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia would suspend its participation in the New START treaty — the last remaining treaty between Russia and the U.S. aimed at preventing nuclear arms expansion, further ramping up tensions a day after President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine.
Speaking to Russia’s federal legislature in Moscow in a wide-ranging address, Putin blamed the West for provoking Russia, and explained that it would be ready to conduct nuclear weapons tests if the U.S. does so.
“They want to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on us and try to get to our nuclear facilities at the same time,” said Putin. “In this context, I have to declare today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms.”
The treaty, signed by President Barack Obama and then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, puts restrictions on the number of strategic nuclear warheads both countries can deploy. In February of last year, days before expiring, Biden and Putin extended it for another five years.
Each country is restricted to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The agreement also provides for sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance.
The inspections had already been halted by Russia, leading NATO to issue a statement earlier this month calling for their resumption. In his Tuesday speech, Putin called this request “some kind of theater of the absurd.”
Putin clarified that Russia is not yet withdrawing entirely from the agreement.
Speaking to reporters in Athens, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the move “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible.”
“We’ll of course make sure that, in any event, we are postured appropriately for the security of our country and our allies,” Blinken said, adding that the U.S. remains available to talk about strategic arms limitations with Russia at any time.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also condemned Putin’s decision.
“More nuclear weapons and less arms control makes the world more dangerous,” Stoltenberg explained.