Putin suspends nuclear treaty, blames west for Ukraine escalation
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Loading... - Harper Cooper
- 22 Feb 2023
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President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday suspended Moscow's participation in a nuclear arms treaty with Washington and accused the West of escalating the conflict in Ukraine, ahead of a key speech by U.S. President Joe Biden.
In his scathing state of the nation address ahead of the first anniversary of the campaign in Ukraine, Putin also vowed that Russia would keep fighting in Ukraine and "systematically" achieve its aims.
The Russian leader accused Western powers of wanting "to be done with us once and for all," but said increasingly stringent international sanctions on Russia "will not succeed."
He said Moscow would no longer take part in the New START treaty for nuclear disarmament but would not pull out of the agreement altogether.
The 2010 deal is the last remaining arms control treaty between the world's two main nuclear powers but it has frayed in recent years, with the two sides accusing each other of not complying with it.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia's decision was "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible" but that Washington was still willing to talk about the issue.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the move meant that "the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled." Read More…
