INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia was suspending participation in New START, its last nuclear arms limitation treaty with
the United States.The announcement, made ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, follows months of veiled threats
his first state-of-the-nation address since invading Ukraine on Feb
since extended to 2026, caps the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads held by the world's two largest nuclear powers at 1,550
each.Russia suspended U.S
It had placed its strategic forces on "high alert" shortly after invading Ukraine.Putin on Tuesday ordered the Defense Ministry and the
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the decision to suspend New START participation was "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible," but
remained willing to talk about the issue."We remain ready to talk about strategic arms limitations at any time with Russia, irrespective of
anything else going on in the world or in our relationship," Blinken said.NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also criticized Putin's move, saying
"the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled" in Europe.Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, called Putin's statement a futile attempt to intimidate the U.S."The Kremlin decided in vain to scare the Americans by
They will not back down, and their military-industrial complex is able to play the arms race much better than the Russian one," Gabuev
wrote.AFP contributed reporting.
