Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that Russia is withdrawing from the New START treaty with the United States that reduces and limits each country’s nuclear arsenal.
“In this regard, I am compelled to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Offensive Weapons Treaty,” Putin said in his annual address to the nation, just one day after President Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine.
In his long-delayed state of the nation address, Putin singled out Russia and Ukraine as victims of Western double-dealing. He said that Russia, not Ukraine, was the one fighting for its very existence.
The speech reiterated a litany of grievances that the Russian leader has often offered as justification for the widely condemned war and ignored international calls to withdraw from occupied areas in Ukraine.
PRESIDENT BIDEN MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO KYIV. UKRAINE, MEETING WITH PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he delivers his annual state of the nation address in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (Sergei Karpukhin, Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo via AP)
The New START treaty, first signed in April 2010, restricts the United States and Russia from having more than 1,550 nuclear warheads deployed on delivery systems such as ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or heavy bombers.
Both the United States and Russia are capable of deploying far more than their allotted nuclear warheads as Washington and Moscow have a combined total of more than 13,000 warheads, representing about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear arsenal, according to data provided by the Association. for arms control (ACA).
After the nuclear arms race that largely came to an end the fall of the Soviet Union, the United Nations has pushed for nuclear disarmament, and global inventories of warheads have declined since peaking in 1985, when more than 70,000 warheads were estimated to make up the global stockpile.
Putin’s speech comes three days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has continued its attack on Ukraine over the past year despite Western sanctions and battlefield losses. Ukraine’s defense has been supported by a number of other countries, most of which are in the West.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Joe Biden shake hands at the Mariinsky Palace on an unannounced visit, in Kiev, Ukraine February 20, 2023. (Evan Vucci/Pool via REUTERS)
Ukrainian officials said they expect Russia to step up its offensive in Moscow’s recognition of the first anniversary of the war on Feb. 24.
Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday at the Mariinsky Palace to announce an additional half-billion dollars in US assistance. The United States has already backed Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in financial aid and military equipment.
BIDEN ANNOUNCES MILLIONS OF ADDITIONAL TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO HELP UKRAINE ON SURPRISE TRIP TO KYIV
President Biden (left) walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral during an unannounced visit, in Kyiv February 20, 2023. (EVAN VUCCI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The new assistance includes howitzer shells, anti-tank missiles, air surveillance radar and other aids, but does not offer advanced new weapons.
Biden said he visited Ukraine to meet with Zelensky and “reaffirm our unwavering and tireless commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity.” You said Putin was “completely wrong” in believing that Ukraine was weak when he launched the invasion a year ago.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“I am meeting with President Zelenskyy and his team for a broad discussion on our support for Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement on Monday. “I will announce another delivery of critical equipment, including artillery munitions, anti-armor systems and air surveillance radars to help protect the people of Ukraine from aerial bombardment. And I will share that later this week, we will announce further sanctions against elites and companies that are trying to evade or backfill the Russian war machine.”
Caitlin McFall of Fox News, Nick Kalman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
