On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty, which is the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement with the United States. This announcement marked a significant uptick in the tempo of the conflict between Moscow and Washington over the conflict in Ukraine.
In his state-of-the-nation speech, Putin also stated that Russia should be prepared to begin nuclear weapons testing in the event that the U.S. does so. If this were to happen, the Cold War-era global ban on nuclear testing would be lifted.
Putin claimed that the U.S. and its NATO allies had publicly stated their desire to see Russia defeated in Ukraine as justification for his decision to suspend Russia's responsibilities under New START. They intend to "inflict a strategic loss" on us while also attempting to access our nuclear facilities, he claimed.
As per Putin, NATO partners had assisted Ukraine in mounting drone strikes on Russian air bases housing nuclear-capable strategic bombers, while the U.S. had pressed for the resumed inspections of Russian nuclear facilities under the treaty. According to Putin, "the drones used for it were equipped and modernised with NATO's technical support."
"And now they want to inspect our defence facilities? In the conditions of today's confrontation, it sounds like sheer nonsense." Putin reiterated that while Russia is temporarily delaying its participation in New START, it has not yet completely withdrawn from the agreement.
START pact between US, Russia
Presidents Barack Obama of the United States and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia had signed the New START pact in 2010, which restricts each nation to have no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The contract calls for extensive on-site inspections to ensure compliance.
Russia and the United States decided to extend the pact for a further five years just a few days before it was set to expire in February 2021. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia and the U.S. have postponed mutual inspections under New START. Nevertheless, Moscow refused to allow them to resume last October, casting doubt on the survival of the agreement. In accordance with the convention, Russia also put off a scheduled round of consultations indefinitely.
