The World Briefly

February 22, 2023

Dismantling Safety

Russia

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Russia will suspend its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the United States, raising the stakes in the tense relationship between Moscow and the West over the war in Ukraine and sparking concerns about the pact’s future, CBS News reported Tuesday.

President Vladimir Putin declared the suspension of the New START treaty during his state of the nation address Tuesday, which he also used to accuse the US and its NATO allies of igniting the war in Ukraine.

Signed in 2010, the treaty limits each country’s nuclear arsenal and includes sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance. But since the coronavirus pandemic, the two nuclear powers have suspended mutual inspections.

During his address, Putin said that even though the US had pushed for the resumption of inspections, NATO has been helping Ukraine mount drone attacks on Russian air bases hosting nuclear-capable strategic bombers.

He explained that Russia is not withdrawing from the treaty but added that Moscow will stand ready to resume nuclear weapon tests if the US also restarts them.

Putin’s announcement drew criticism from Washington as “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible.”

Observers noted that a restart in nuclear weapons tests would put an end to a global ban on such tests in place since the Cold War.

In 2021, Russia and the US agreed to extend the treaty for five years just days before it was due to expire in February of that year.

But last year, Moscow refused to allow the resumption of inspections and has indefinitely postponed a planned round of consultations under the treaty.

This story originally appeared in the February 22, 2023 newsletter, A People, Betrayed.