The announcement of Vladimir Putin on the suspension of Russia’s compliance with the New Start, the last nuclear disarmament treaty in force between Moscow and the United States, provoked strong condemnation in the international community.
The UK government on Tuesday asked the Kremlin chief to back down. in his “thoughtless decision” to suspend Russian participation in the nuclear disarmament treaty. France, meanwhile, called for “responsibility.”
“We hope that Putin will reverse his thoughtless decision to suspend Russia’s participation in the New START treaty. Arms control is vital to the security of our planet,” a spokesman for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters.
For its part, France called on Russia to “show responsibility and revoke its suspension announcement as soon as possible” of its participation in the treaty.
Paris “recalls that the New START treaty is an essential instrument of the international architecture of nuclear arms control and strategic stability”French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said in a statement.
The government of Emmanuel Macron He also recalled the importance of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which Russia signed and ratified, and which he hopes Moscow will respect the moratorium on carrying out tests, pending the entry into force of the treaty.
In his speech on Tuesday, Putin suggested that NATO join New START to achieve a fair treaty, “because within NATO, the United States is not the only nuclear power.”
“France and Great Britain also have nuclear arsenals, they are perfecting, modernizing and targeting us,” he stressed.
The United States, for its part, called Putin’s announcement “deeply unfortunate” and “very irresponsible.” “Russia’s announcement that it is suspending its participation in New START is deeply unfortunate and irresponsible. We will be very attentive to what Russia does,” the US Secretary of State told the press. Anthony Blinkenduring his visit to Athens.
“We will make sure that we position ourselves adequately for the security of our own country and that of our allies,” warned the head of US diplomacy.
Blinken indicated that the treaty was beneficial to both US and Russian security and left the door open for future talks.
“We remain willing to discuss strategic arms limitations at any time with Russia, regardless of anything else happening in the world or in our relationship,” Blinken added.
NATO Secretary General, Jens StoltenbergHe argued that Russia’s suspension of compliance means that the arms control architecture has been “dismantled.”
“With today’s decision on New START, the entire arms control architecture has been dismantled,” declared the Norwegian politician at a press conference at NATO headquarters together with the head of European Union diplomacy, Josep Borrelland the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba.
Stoltenberg regretted Russia’s decision and urged Moscow to “reconsider” and “respect existing agreements.” He also acknowledged that the step announced by Moscow today makes the world a “more dangerous” place.
“More nuclear weapons and less arms control make the world more dangerous”confirmed the allied secretary general.
For this reason, he added, NATO has worked “so hard” to get Russia involved in arms control issues and the allies backed New START.
“That is why I also ask Russia today to reconsider its decision to suspend its participation in New START,” he insisted.
He recalled that this treaty is “one of the last great arms control agreements” still in existenceafter Russia “began to violate” the treaty for the elimination of nuclear missiles of medium and short range (INF), which “led to the disappearance” of that agreement “a few years ago”.
“Now they are suspending the other major nuclear arms control treaty,” he said of New START, and considered that this Tuesday has seen “another example that we are moving away from the arms control architecture, from the rules-based international order , which has taken us decades to build step by step and agreement by agreement”.
He asserted that the combination of Russia “violating some of these pacts”, in reference to the INF, and the departure of the New START “makes the world more dangerous and highlights the importance of all the countries that believe in the international order based on in norms, in freedom and democracy”.
The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, insisted that “everything possible must be done for an immediate return to (nuclear) dialogue”, in reaction to Russia’s announcement. Through his spokesperson, Stephane DujarricGuterres did not directly criticize Russia, but considered that “a world without nuclear arms control is much more dangerous and can have potentially catastrophic consequences.”
The START III treaty “has brought security not only to Russia and the United States, but to the entire international community,” reiterated the Portuguese diplomat, who insisted that it is “vital” to guarantee a high-level commitment between the two great nuclear powers for nuclear disarmament.
Putin announced on Tuesday the suspension of his country’s compliance with START III or New START, last nuclear disarmament treaty still in force between Russia and the US.
Putin qualified that “Russia does not abandon, but only suspends” compliance with the treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive arms that expires in 2026, for which he blamed the United States.
The New START, which specifically includes an arsenal inspection system, was to reduce the number of nuclear warheads by 30%, to 1,550 per country.
Furthermore, it limited 700 the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles, that of those deployed in submarines and strategic bombers equipped for nuclear weapons.
It also reduced to 800 the number of intercontinental missile launchers, submarine ballistic missile launchers, and nuclear-equipped strategic bombers, whether deployed or not.
(With information from AFP and EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com