UNITED NATIONS, October 16. /TASS/. The strategic stability situation continues to deteriorate as the US-led West keeps creating serious strategic risks, Vladimir Yermakov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, said.

"We can see that Washington is stubbornly refusing to accept the loss of its total dominance. The US-led West is grasping at straws to slow down the natural march of history, creating serious strategic risks by its destabilizing activities," he noted in an interview with Russian journalists. "As a result, the international security and strategic stability situation continues to deteriorate. Thankfully, efforts to prevent the worst-case scenarios have so far been successful," Yermakov added.

When asked if there was any hope that the Russia-US New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) would be extended in 2026, Yermakov pointed out that "hope alone is not enough to make sure that this issue is resolved." He added that Washington "has radically undermined the fundamental principles" the New START-related agreements were based on.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21, 2023, that Moscow was suspending its participation in New START but was not withdrawing from it. The head of state emphasized that before resuming discussions about further activities under the treaty, Russia needed to understand how the arsenals of NATO’s other nuclear-weapons countries, the UK and France, would be taken into account along with US capacities. Putin signed a law suspending Russia’s participation in the treaty on February 28.