BUENOS AIRES, March 16. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Argentina Dmitry Feoktistov on Thursday explained to the Argentine authorities the reasons for the suspension of Moscow's participation in the New START Treaty to address concerns expressed by Buenos Aires.
"We paid attention to the reaction of the Argentine authorities expressing concern. The official communique of the Foreign Ministry mentions the fear of escalation of the situation in Ukraine to a conflict with a nuclear dimension. In this regard, I would like to draw the attention of the leadership and the public of Argentina to the real causes of the degradation of the international arms control system," says a statement publicized by the embassy.
Feoktistov noted that for many years Washington has "consistently neglected the relationship between strategic offensive and defensive arms recorded in the START Treaty". "The Russian position is that the treaty can only be viable if the United States stops building up its missile defense. Nevertheless, Washington pointedly continues the massive deployment of a multi-echelon missile defense system," the diplomat added.
"No matter what, Russia will continue to pursue a responsible approach in the nuclear sphere. We will continue within the life cycle of the treaty to comply with the quantitative limits on strategic nuclear weapons," the ambassador stressed.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was suspending its participation in New START, but not withdrawing from it altogether.