Vladimir Putin, amid boastful claims regarding the strength of the Russian economy in resisting sanctions and the usual rants of what NATO did for Ukraine, made quite an important announcement. Just before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, Putin announced that Moscow will no longer remain a part of the New START which was the only remaining arms-control agreement between America and Russia, two nuclear superpowers.
The agreement came into force in 2011, and was extended in February 2021, just two days before it was due to expire. Although there has been a lot on the table quite recently, but nonetheless, it assured a 75% reduction in warheads since the end of the cold war.
Putin made the declaration in his much-delayed annual address to Russia’s National Assembly. Hours after Putin’s speech, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the decision to suspend participation in the treaty was reversible.
Under the rules of nuclear arms control treaty, both the United States and Russia are permitted to inspect each other’s weapons sites, though inspections had been halted since 2020 due to the covid pandemic. However, now Russia refused to facilitate inspection activities which prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control treaty.
In this situation, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken called Putin’s decision as deeply unfortunate and irresponsible. He furthur added that President Joe Biden’s administration remains ready to talk about the nuclear arms treaty at any time with Russia, irrespective of anything else going on in the world.
Other Western allies also joined US, like France and the United Kingdom, who called out Putin to reverse this suspension. A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Britain hopes Putin will reconsider his rash decision.
According to US officials, Russia had already showed his disinterest on numerous occasions like a session of the Bilateral Consultative Commission on the treaty was scheduled to meet in Egypt, in late November, but was abruptly called off. The US has blamed Russia for this postponement, with a statement that the decision was made unilaterally by Russia.
Putin’s attitude during the war has alarmed the US and its allies, though officials have repeatedly dismissed the moves as empty threats. In December, Putin warned of the increasing likelihood of a nuclear war, and this month, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, threatened that the increasing probability of Russia losing the war could escalate the outbreak of a nuclear war.
And though a US intelligence assessment has informed regarding particular circumstances under which Russia could use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, the officials say that they have yet not seen any traces that Putin has decided to take the drastic step of using one.
