USA: The decision by Moscow to suspend the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the two powers was rejected by US Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday. The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the action was taken in retaliation for "unacceptable" and cynical Western actions.
As Biden was finishing up his trip to Poland and Ukraine with a photo opportunity in Warsaw, one of the reporters yelled out a query regarding the treaty.
At first, the US president said, "I don't have time. He paused, calling it a "big mistake."
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, also known as New START in the US and SNV-III in Russia, was first signed in 2010. It was extended by Biden during his first week in office through the year 2026. The INF and Open Skies treaties had already been terminated by the US, making New START the only remaining arms control agreement.
Speaking to the Russian parliament on Tuesday, Putin declared that his country would "suspend its membership" in New START but would not leave the agreement. He claimed that the US was attempting to "refashion the international order to suit exclusively its own needs and selfish interests," demanding that Moscow comply with treaties like New START "while they will do as they please," and that Western leaders had made public declarations about "inflicting a strategic defeat" on Russia.
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They are not idiots, but this is either the height of hypocrisy and cynicism or the height of stupidity. They are not naive, the Russian president declared.
Putin argued that NATO, which isn't even a signatory to New START, had made "absurd" demands to inspect the Russian nuclear deterrent, even as the US-led alliance openly supported Ukraine in conducting drone attacks against strategic aviation bases that house atomic weapons.
Putin emphasised that Moscow needs to have "a clear idea" of NATO's nuclear arsenal before it can return to the negotiating table, including the UK and France, which are welcome to join the treaty.
"We don't mind if you get on board. Just make an effort to act sincere this time and portray yourselves as defenders of peace and détente. We are aware of the reality, the Russian leader declared.
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Moscow suspended the New Start inspection programme in August 2022, claiming that US sanctions had made it impossible for Russian inspectors to perform their duties, giving Washington an unfair advantage.
Technical negotiations to restart the inspections, which were supposed to take place in Egypt at the end of November, were postponed indefinitely. Speaking with the US while Washington was supplying Ukraine with weapons worth billions of dollars, according to Russia, was pointless.
