Russia must account for NATO’s nuclear weapons, Putin says – National | 24CA News

Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned in an interview broadcast Sunday that Russia has no alternative however to keep in mind NATO’s nuclear capabilities, in remarks justifying Russia’s latest suspension of its participation within the New START treaty.

As he has achieved repeatedly through the Ukraine battle, Putin claimed that Russia faces an existential risk as a result of, in his view, NATO members are searching for the nation’s “strategic defeat.” He mentioned on Russian state TV that the suspension of New START stemmed from the necessity to “ensure security, strategic stability” for Russia.

“When all the leading NATO countries have declared their main goal as inflicting a strategic defeat on us (…) how can we ignore their nuclear capabilities in these conditions?” Putin mentioned.

Putin’s overarching objective in invading Ukraine a 12 months in the past was to cut back what he perceived as threats to Russia’s safety, and at instances he has used that as justification for threats to make use of nuclear weapons within the battle.

Putin declared Tuesday that Moscow was suspending its participation within the 2010 New START treaty, saying that Russia can’t settle for U.S. inspections of its nuclear websites below the pact whereas Washington and its NATO allies search Russia’s defeat in Ukraine. The Russian president emphasised that Moscow was not withdrawing from the pact altogether, and the Russian Foreign Ministry mentioned the nation would respect the treaty’s caps on nuclear weapons and maintain notifying the U.S. about check launches of ballistic missiles.

In the interview with Russia 1 tv broadcast Sunday — two days after the one-year anniversary of the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — Putin mentioned that whereas NATO international locations aren’t get together to the treaty, they grew to become a part of the “discussions on the issue,” which Moscow doesn’t object to, particularly since it will possibly’t ignore NATO’s nuclear capabilities.

2:35Russia-Ukraine battle: A timeline of the year-long battle

Putin alleged that the West desires to eradicate Russia, a notion that he has repeatedly used to justify Russian aggression in Ukraine. “They have one goal: to disband the former Soviet Union and its fundamental part — the Russian Federation,” Putin mentioned.

If the West succeeds in destroying Russia and establishing management, he claimed, the Russian individuals could not survive as a unified nation. “There will be Muscovites, Uralians and others,” he mentioned of Russia’s attainable fragmentation. The West may solely partly settle for Russia into the so-called “family of civilized peoples,” breaking the nation into separate items, he theorized.

U.S. President Joe Biden countered Putin’s claims in a speech in Poland on Tuesday.

“The United States and the nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia. The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today. And millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbors are not the enemy,” he mentioned through the speech within the Polish capital, Warsaw.

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