Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday February 21 that Russia was suspending its participation in the New Start agreement on nuclear disarmament and threatened to carry out new nuclear tests if the United States did it first.
“
Russia is suspending its participation in the START treaty
,” he declared in a river speech strongly hostile to Westerners, calling on the Russian authorities to be “
ready for nuclear weapons tests
”.
Note that this does not mean that Russia withdraws from the treaty.
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The New Start Treaty is the latest bilateral nuclear disarmament agreement between Russia and the United States, the world's two largest nuclear arsenals.
It was signed in Prague on April 8, 2010 by Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.
The New Start treaty replaces the Start I treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), signed in 1993 by George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev, which expired on December 5, 2009, and the Sort treaty signed in 2002, which was to expire in 2012.
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It limits the arsenals of the two countries to a maximum of 1,550 warheads deployed on either side, a reduction of nearly 30% compared to the previous limit set in 2002. It also limits the number of launchers and heavy bombers to 800 and also involves a series of mutual inspections of military sites.
In January 2021, when it was due to end, Vladimir Putin extended it for five years, until 2026.
This treaty was signed with the aim of resetting relations with the Kremlin, after several months of negotiations.
It is important especially because 90% of the nuclear weapons in the world are held by the two powers.
The United States had to give up the anti-missile shield that the Bush administration wanted to install in Poland and the Czech Republic.