Putin submitted to the State Duma a bill on the suspension of Russia’s participation in START

Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted a bill to the State Duma, according to which Moscow suspends participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START, START-3). According to TASS, this was announced by the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.

“The President of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma a draft federal law “On the suspension by the Russian Federation of the operation of the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on measures to further reduce and limit strategic offensive weapons,” he said.

According to Volodin, the Duma will consider the bill on February 22.

“The bill introduced by the president will be considered tomorrow at the plenary session of the State Duma and we will immediately make a decision on it. Immediately after that, it will be sent to the Federation Council,” he said. Volodin specified that the draft had been sent to the Duma committees on international affairs and defense.

The agreement was concluded between Russia and the United States, it involves the reduction of nuclear arsenals of both countries. On the decision to suspend Russia’s participation in START-3, Putin announced the day before, speaking with a message to the Federal Assembly. He explained that changes are long overdue: in addition to the United States, there are other nuclear powers in NATO. And before continuing work on the agreement, it is necessary to understand how their arsenals will be taken into account, the President of the Russian Federation pointed out.

As the Kremlin later said, Moscow did not notify colleagues from Washington in advance about this decision. The US authorities, for their part, have stated that they will monitor this situation and are ready to discuss strategic arms limitation with Russia.