A senior Russian Defense Ministry official said today, Wednesday, that his country will abide by the agreed limits on nuclear missiles and will continue to inform the United States of any change in its deployment despite Moscow’s decision to suspend the last remaining arms control treaty, while US President Joe Biden described the Russian decision to withdraw from the treaty. gross mistake.
The lower house (Duma) and the Federation Council (Senate) voted in favor of suspending Moscow’s participation in the New START treaty, ratifying a decision announced by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday when he accused the West of trying to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia in Ukraine.
But a senior official in the Russian Ministry of Defense Yevgeny Ilin told the House of Representatives that Russia will continue to abide by the agreed limits on the launch systems of nuclear weapons, ie strategic bombers and missiles.
RIA news agency quoted Ilyin as saying that Russia will also continue to notify Washington when any nuclear weapon is deployed in order to “prevent false alarms, which is important for maintaining strategic stability.”
Assurances indicated that Putin’s move would have no tangible direct practical effect, even if it cast doubt on the long-term future of a treaty designed to reduce nuclear risks by providing a degree of transparency and predictability to both sides.
Putin has a track record of trying to terrorize and stir up anxiety in the West.
Since Russia began its war on Ukraine nearly a year ago, Putin has taken great pride in his country’s nuclear arsenal and expressed his willingness to use it if Russia’s “territorial integrity” is threatened.
Under the 2010 START treaty, Moscow and Washington commit to deploying no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 missiles and bombers.
In response to a question regarding cases in which Russia might resume the treaty, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Everything depends on the position of the West … When it shows willingness to take into account our concerns, then the situation will change.”
No nuclear war
For his part, Sergei Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, said that his country’s decision to suspend its participation in the New START Treaty does not increase the risk of a nuclear war.
“I do not think that the decision to suspend participation in the New START Treaty brings us closer to a nuclear war,” Interfax news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying.
On the other hand, US President Joe Biden said in a speech – before the meeting of the “Bucharest 9” group of countries of the eastern wing of NATO (NATO) in Poland today, Wednesday – that (President Vladimir) Putin made a mistake by suspending Russia’s participation in the “New START” treaty to limit of nuclear weapons.
Biden described his Russian counterpart’s decision in the New START treaty as a “grave mistake.”
He stressed the United States’ commitment to Article Five of the North Atlantic Treaty, which requires the defense of every inch of the territory of the member states of the alliance.
