The president of Russia Vladimir Putin said in a speech on Tuesday (21 Feb) that the country is suspending a nuclear arms control treaty.
He also claimed that it is “impossible” to defeat Russia in war.
Reuters reported Putin as saying that Russia will suspend their participation in the New START treaty, which was signed in 2010.
The treaty sets a limit on the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the countries can deploy.
Putin apparently declared that Russia will conduct weapons testing if the United States (US) does too. He remarked that,
No one should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed.
Source: Reuters
He also said that he had signed a decree to put new ground-based strategic systems on combat duty, without naming them.
The declaration marks an escalation of his threats to eventually use nuclear weapons — apparently if the West does so first.
Addressing Russia’s political and military elite, Putin allegedly said,
The elites of the West do not hide their purpose… that is, they intend to transform a local conflict into a phase of global confrontation. This is exactly how we understand it all and we will react accordingly, because in this case, we are talking about the existence of our country.
He also claimed that Ukrainians were being held hostage by the Kyiv regime as well as its “Western overlords”. Therefore, Russia must overthrow them.
In his speech, Putin claimed that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty, which allows countries to inspect each other’s nuclear arsenal.
According to the pact, both the US and Russia are limited to 1,550 long-range nuclear warheads.
After Putin’s speech, however, Russia said it will continue to observe this limit despite the suspension, Reuters reports.
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Featured image adapted from Shutterstock via BBC.
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