Vladimir Putin decided to suspend Russia’s participation in the New START treaty on nuclear reduction cooperation.
Surprising exactly no one, Russia took on Wednesday a decision that drives it further away from the West and from military de-escalation. The state Duma, the Russian parliament, suspended the country’s participation in the New START treaty, as announced by president Vladimir Putin the day prior.
“START” stands for “Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty” and is an international agreement on nuclear weapons reduction signed by both Russia and the United States. The treaty saw the light in 2010, under the Obama administration, and was co-signed by his Russian counterpart Dimitri Medvedev in Prague.
Though Medvedev was president at the time, it should be noted that Vladimir Putin was driving the wheels of the nation, serving as Prime Minister. According to the (former) Russian Constitution, no president should serve more than twice in a row, and Putin had already reached the limit. Putin would become Russian president again in 2012 and conveniently change the Constitution to allow for more terms.
That is to say that Putin knew very well the implications of the New START treaty, which also included further coordination with the West. According to the treaty, member nations could not possess more than a set number of strategic nuclear weapons, allowing international inspections to enforce this rule.
Why did Putin suspend the treaty
On Tuesday, at his big speech at the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s intentions to suspend the New START treaty. He blamed the West for his decision, claiming that the entire NATO nuclear arsenal should be kept down to the limits of the treaty.
Indeed, three countries within NATO have access to strategic nuclear weapons: the United States, France and the United Kingdom.
Viktor Bondarev, chairman of one of the Duma’s branches, defended this decision saying it served Russian national security. “Only a weak opponent is spoken to from the position of strength,” he said, “whereas an equal dialogue is held with a strong opponent. Thanks to this decision, they will have an equal dialogue with us.”
On his part, US president Joe Biden called Russia’s decision “a big mistake”, speaking from Warsaw’s Royal Castle in Poland. He was there yesterday, following a surprising secret visit to Kyiv where he met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Of all the countries in the world, only Russia and the United States have precisely as many strategic nuclear weapons as imposed by the treaty. Every other, including China, India, Pakistan and North Korea, has an arsenal at least ten times smaller.
But size does not matter: every nuclear armed country has the potential of destroying the entire civilization in a few seconds. The New START treaty was not supposed to make the world safer, but to keep the situation seemingly under control.
