Russian Foreign Ministry: We continue to respect the restrictions of the New START Treaty

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that Russia will continue to respect the limits on the number of nuclear warheads it can deploy under the New START treaty, despite Moscow’s decision to suspend its participation in it.

“In order to maintain a sufficient degree of predictability and stability in the nuclear missile field, Russia intends to adhere to a responsible approach and will continue to strictly abide by the quantitative restrictions of the New START treaty during the period of the treaty’s validity,” the ministry said in a statement.

It also made it clear that it would continue to notify the United States of planned test launches of ICBMs.

Moscow holds Washington responsible

In its statement, the ministry blamed the United States for Russia’s decision to suspend the treaty, but said it did not oppose resuming participation if US policy toward Moscow changed.

For his part, the speaker of the Russian lower house of parliament (Duma), Vyacheslav Volodin, confirmed that the parliament will consider today, Wednesday, a bill by President Vladimir Putin on suspending participation in the New START treaty and take a decision on it immediately.

He added in a statement that the council would then send the draft law to the Federation Council, according to Reuters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the decision to suspend participation in the treaty during a speech on Tuesday addressed to both chambers of the Russian parliament, in which he repeated his accusations that the West seeks to destroy his country.

Treaty details

Under the treaty, signed in 2010 and extended until 2026, Moscow and Washington pledged not to deploy more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads and a maximum of 700 long-range missiles and launchers.

Russia and the United States together possess 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads.