Russia’s suspension of participation in the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms means that, if necessary, Russia can increase the number of available warheads and carriers, said Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee. It is reported by Interfax.
“We are suspending our participation in this treaty in response to the actions of our partners and are free to do whatever we want in order to ensure the security of our homeland. It will be necessary to increase the number of warheads – we will increase it, it will be necessary to increase the number of carriers – we will increase it, this is our right, ”he said.
According to him, the decision to suspend participation in START will not need to be ratified, since “the president has made a decision.”
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a message to the Federal Assembly, said that Russia was suspending its participation in the START treaty, stressing that Moscow “is not withdrawing from the treaty, but it is suspending it.”
In this regard, he recalled that NATO made a statement in early February demanding that Russia “return to the implementation of strategic arms treaties, with the admission of inspections to our military facilities.” “In the current conditions of today’s confrontation, this sounds like some kind of nonsense,” the president said, adding that “the United States and NATO directly say that their goal is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, and then they want to drive around military facilities.”
At the same time, according to him, “NATO actually made an application to become a party to the START treaty.” “Such a formulation of the issue is overdue – NATO includes more than one nuclear power,” the Russian leader stressed.
Source: Rosbalt
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