Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of Russia’s participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START III).
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation was not particularly impressive. It mainly consists of old propaganda clichés. The only new thing Putin said was the announcement of the suspension of Russia’s participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START III).
what’s the deal
This agreement with the United States remained the last document that limited the nuclear arsenals of the two countries and is one of the few areas where Moscow and Washington have continued cooperation.
Cooperation between Russia and the United States on the issue of strategic offensive weapons did not stop even behind a crisis in relations between the countries. In 2021, the presidents extended START III, despite the statements that Washington and Moscow have about the content of the agreement.
The United States requested that China join the agreement. Russia has said that Great Britain and France, whose nuclear capabilities are equal to China’s, could participate in it.
In his speech, Putin cited these claims, effectively making London and Paris’ participation in START a condition for Moscow’s renewed participation in it.
“Before we return to the discussion of this issue, we must understand for ourselves what the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance still claim as France and Great Britain? And how do we consider their strategic arsenals? That is , the joint strike of the alliance. potential. They are now In fact, they made a statement with an application to participate in this process. Well, thank God. Come on, we are not against it,” he said.
START III remains perhaps the last major Russian-American arms control agreement to remain in force. In 2019, the United States and Russia terminated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. In 2020-2021 The United States and Russia withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty, which allows the free flight of unarmed reconnaissance aircraft in the airspace of countries that have signed the document.
Will report
After Putin’s speech, the Russian Foreign Ministry clarified that Russia has pledged to comply with quantitative restrictions under START, as well as to continue to notify the United States of ballistic missile launches.
However, this promise, firstly, is not binding, because it was made after the official announcement of the suspension of participation in the agreement, and secondly, it is a very small part of all the provisions of the agreement.
“The decision to suspend the agreement can be reversed. To do this, Washington must show political will, make intensive efforts to reduce and create conditions for the continuation of the full functioning of the Agreement and, accordingly, comprehensive ensure its viability,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Consequences
Until recently, the issue of nuclear weapons was kept apart from the worsening relations between Russia and the United States: regardless of what happened, these restrictions continued to be observed.
The suspension of Russia’s participation in START does not mean an intention to exceed the limits established by the treaty on the number of deployed nuclear launchers and warheads.
The agreement limits the number of carriers at the level of 800 units (while only 700 of them can be deployed), and warheads – at the level of 1550 units.
Putin’s announcement to suspend Russia’s participation in the Treaty may have been made to bring the nuclear rhetoric back into the information space – and thus distract from the general lack of the rest of the speech, ISW said. The Institute has previously assessed that the Kremlin is using nuclear rhetoric as an information operation to deter Ukraine and the West by giving Russia an opportunity to recover from military failures. However, after Putin’s speech, ISW analysts continue to believe that Russia will not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine or against NATO.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.