Both chambers of the Russian Federal Assembly, the Duma and the Federation Council, unanimously passed the legislation formalizing the suspension of Russian participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty following President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of yesterday. According to reports in TASS, the legislation gives the Russian President the sole authority to decide on resumption of Russian participation in the treaty.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RT in an interview that the Russian action is being taken to ensure that nuclear parity is still observed. “It is very important because what the United States and other countries insisted on in terms of inspections is unrealizable amid the current confrontation,” he said, reported TASS. “The key goal of our country’s president is to make sure that this nuclear parity continues to be ensured.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Russia will continue to observe the limits mandated by the treaty and continue with the information exchanges on the numbers of warheads and launchers as long as the treaty is in force. In addition, “Russia will also continue to exchange notifications of ICBM and SLBM launches with the United States in accordance with the relevant Soviet-US agreement signed in 1988,” it said.
According to the ministry, “We intend to closely monitor subsequent actions by the United States and its allies in the area of strategic offensive arms and international security and strategic stability as a whole, as well as analyze them for possible damage to Russia’s interests and the need for us to take additional countermeasures.” (https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1855184/ )
