The Russian president made the announcement during the course of a major annual address to lawmakers on Tuesday focused on the security crisis in Ukraine and the broader global tensions between the West and Russia.
Russia will be suspending its participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction (New START) Treaty, President Vladimir Putin has announced. "They [the West] seek to inflict a strategic defeat on us and to creep onto our nuclear sites. In this connection, I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START Treaty. I repeat - not exiting from the treaty, but suspending its participation," Putin said, speaking to gathered lawmakers in Moscow during his speech to the Federal Assembly.
Putin explained that "at the start of February, the North Atlantic Alliance made a statement factually demanding that Russia 'return to the implementation of the strategic offensive arms treaty', including the admission of inspections to our nuclear and defense facilities."
"I don't even know what to call this - some kind of theater of the absurd. We know that the West is involved directly in attempts of the Kiev regime to strike the bases of our strategic aviation," Putin said, pointing to recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's Engels Air Base, home to part of the airborne continent of Russia's nuclear triad.
"A week ago, I signed a decree putting new ground-based strategic weapons systems on combat duty. Are they going to stick their nose in there too?" Putin asked.
The Russian president suggested that NATO's collective statement essentially amounted to an application to join the New START Treaty, and said Moscow would only welcome such a move.
Slamming the US and NATO over the "hypocrisy" of their demands, Putin recalled how the Western bloc has attempted to assure Moscow that "there is no connection between issues related to strategic offensive arms and say, the conflict in Ukraine, or other hostile actions against our country," while at the same time seeking to "defeat" Russia. "This is either the height of hypocrisy and cynicism, or the height of stupidity. You can't call them idiots, they are not stupid people: they want to inflict a strategic defeat on us..." the Russian president said.
