President Biden has expressed his disappointment in Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the New START nuclear arms control pact, the last remaining nuclear treaty between the U.S. and Russia. Speaking in Warsaw, Poland, where he was meeting with Eastern European NATO allies, President Biden told reporters that the move was a “big mistake.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that Russia would be pausing its participation in the treaty and said the country should be prepared to resume nuclear weapons tests if the U.S. did so first. The announcement has raised tensions between the U.S. and Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
In response to Putin’s speech, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country would still comply with the limits on offensive weapons imposed by the treaty and continue to exchange information with the U.S. about ballistic missile tests. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Putin’s decision to step back from the pact, calling it “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible.”
The New START treaty, signed in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles and heavy bombers. It also includes a number of verification measures, including 18 on-site inspections annually for U.S. and Russian teams. The pact was set to expire in February 2021, but the U.S. and Russia struck a deal to extend it through February 2026.
President Biden’s remarks come a day after his secret visit to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a significant show of support for the country in its continued efforts to combat Russia’s aggression. Biden reiterated that the U.S. would continue to offer steadfast support of Ukraine, including through another batch of weapons and emergency assistance.
While some have interpreted Putin’s announcement as a signal of aggression, President Biden downplayed those concerns in an interview with ABC News’ David Muir on Thursday. “It’s a big mistake, to do that. Not very responsible. … But I don’t read into that that he’s thinking of using nuclear weapons or anything like that,” he said.
The suspension of the New START treaty comes at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and Russia, with the ongoing war in Ukraine and allegations of Russian interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election still weighing heavily on relations between the two countries.
(With inputs from ABC News)
The Chenab Times News Desk