Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was suspending, but not withdrawing from, his country's participation in the New START treaty with the United States that limits the two sides' strategic nuclear arsenals.
The New START treaty is the only agreement left regulating the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals, though the U.S. State Department has previously accused Russia of failing to adhere to it.
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"I have to say today that Russia is suspending its participation in New START. I repeat, not withdrawing from the treaty, no, but merely suspending its participation," the president said on Tuesday during a major speech to parliament.
The Russian leader reiterated throughout his speech a litany of grievances directed at Ukraine and the West that both he and other officials have cited over the course of the war to justify the invasion.
The treaty, which was initially signed in 2010, caps the number of warheads that each country can deploy, 1,500, and the deployment of land and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them, 700. Then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed the treaty in 2010, and the two sides agreed to extend it just days before its expiration in February 2021 for another five years. Inspections have halted over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Putin's speech came a day after President Joe Biden traveled to Kyiv for the first time since the war began, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Biden reiterated his support for Ukraine as it fends off Russian aggression. The first anniversary of the war comes later this week.
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“You said that you didn’t know when we’d be able to speak again. That dark night one year ago, the world was literally at the time bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” Biden said. “Perhaps even the end of Ukraine. ... One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.”
In late January, a State Department spokesman accused Russia of "not complying with its obligation under the New START Treaty to facilitate inspection activities on its territory,” adding, "Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control.”