Russia is reconsidering relations with western countries
The suspension of Moscow's participation in the New Start treaty with the US is part of the process, while Russia is seeking to review its strategic and geopolitical ties with the West. Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), said on Saturday evening, referring to the speech of Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Federal Assembly last week: The process of overhauling geopolitical and strategic relations has already begun.
Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow would not terminate the nuclear arms control treaty with the United States (New Start), but would put it on hold. The Russian president also warned the West that Russia could resume nuclear testing. He also announced that he had placed the new strategic ground organizations on combat readiness by decree.
The treaty serves to counteract the expansion of nuclear weapons arsenals. It was signed in Prague in 2010, came into effect in 2011 and was extended for a further five years in 2021, immediately after US President Joe Biden took office. This limits how many long-range nuclear warheads countries can deploy.
The New Start contract expired on February 5, 2021. Leaders from both countries were scheduled to meet in the Egyptian capital from November 29 to December 6 to discuss resuming inspections based on the agreement. This contract was suspended in March 2020 due to the Corona epidemic.
Before the start of the Cairo meetings, Russia announced that it had unilaterally postponed these negotiations due to Washington's anti-Russian behavior.
