On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin issued a nuclear warning to the West, suspending a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty, announcing the deployment of new strategic systems, and threatening nuclear tests.
Putin, speaking nearly a year to the day after ordering an invasion that triggered the most significant confrontation with the West since the Cold War’s peak, said Russia would achieve its war objectives and accused the West of attempting to destroy Russia.
By withdrawing from the New START Treaty, the last major arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington, Putin warned the US that it was escalating the conflict into a global conflict.
It will expire in 2026 and will limit the number of nuclear warheads that the world’s two most powerful nuclear powers can deploy.
“I am forced to announce today that Russia will withdraw from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty,” Putin said in a statement to his country’s political and military leaders.
The Russian leader stated, without providing evidence, that some people in Washington were considering restarting nuclear testing. Russia’s defence ministry and nuclear corporation, he says, should be ready to test Russian nuclear weapons if necessary.
“We will not, of course, do it first. The following are the results of a survey.” No one should be under the perilous illusion that global strategic parity can be regained “Putin stated.
“A week ago, I signed a decree putting new ground-based strategic systems on combat duty.”
Will they also poke their heads in there?”
It was unclear which ground-based systems had been tasked with combat.
Russia and the United States both retain massive Cold War-era nuclear arsenals. They have 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads, making them by far the most powerful nuclear powers.
Under the New START Treaty, both sides were limited to 1,550 warheads on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers. By 2018, both sides had reached their respective central limits.
‘IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERCOME’
The phrase “celebration” refers to the act of commemorating a birthday.
He also tried to justify the war, claiming that it was imposed on Russia and that he understood the anguish of those who died in battle.
That narrative is rejected by the West and would-be NATO member Ukraine, who argue that NATO’s eastward expansion since the Cold War is no justification for an imperial-style land grab doomed to fail.
“The Ukrainian people have become hostages of the Kiev regime and its Western overlords, who have effectively occupied this country in terms of politics, military, and economics,” Putin said.
“They intend to turn a local conflict into a global one. This is exactly how we interpret everything, and we will respond accordingly, because we are talking about our country’s survival.”
He claimed it was impossible to defeat Russia.
Russia would never yield to Western attempts to divide its society, said the 70-year-old Kremlin chief, adding that the majority of Russians support the war.
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