⚡️ Statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with Russia’s suspension of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START)
https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1855184/
❗️ Washington’s extreme hostility , the confrontation it escalates, and its open course of malicious escalation of the conflict in and around Ukraine have created a fundamentally different security environment for us.
Today, the United States is openly seeking to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia, and the tensions fueled by Washington go far beyond the Ukrainian crisis – the United States and the West they lead are trying to harm our country at any level, in any area and in any region of the world.
There is every reason to state that US policy is aimed at undermining Russia’s national security , which directly contradicts the fundamental principles and understandings enshrined in the START preamble, on which the Treaty is based and without which it would not have been concluded.
In fact , we are talking about a radical change in circumstances compared to those that existed at the time the START was signed.
In such an environment , it is no longer possible to conduct business with the United States and the West in general as usual, both in principle and in relation to the field of arms control, which is inseparable from geopolitical and military-strategic realities.
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⚠️ Serious changes in the security landscape are also related to the fact that the consolidation of Western countries on anti-Russian soil is increasingly affecting aspects of their nuclear policy. In particular, NATO members, who have been practicing so-called “joint nuclear missions” for decades and have for some time now openly declared the North Atlantic bloc a “nuclear alliance”, are increasing the emphasis on nuclear weapons in NATO-wide conceptual guidelines, declaring their focus on further strengthening and increasing the combat readiness of “assigned » to NATO potentials in this area.
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Based on the totality of the circumstances outlined, the Russian side was forced to come to the conclusion that the United States committed a material violation of the New START Treaty , that is, a violation that is of fundamental importance for the implementation of the object and goals of the Treaty.
The decision to suspend the START may be reversible . To do this, Washington must show political will, make conscientious efforts for a general de-escalation and create conditions for the resumption of the full functioning of the Treaty and, accordingly, comprehensively ensuring its viability. We urge the American side to do just that.
☝️ Until then, any of our steps towards Washington in the context of START are absolutely excluded .
WtR