MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. The US statements on Moscow’s suspension of participation in New Start being ‘invalid’ are bogus, Washington must give up ‘empty fantasies’ abour Russia’s ‘strategic defeat’ if it is interested in the resumption of the treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
"We consider such bogus statements to be an element of the political and propaganda campaign carried out by Washington. Its purpose is to force Russia to restore New START and preserve the possibility for the US of unhindered ‘penetration’ of our strategic arsenal," Ryabkov said in a reply to a media question, "If the US is really interested in restoring New START and cooperating with us on arms control in general, it would better start by putting aside its fantasies about 'strategic defeat' of Russia and acknowledge that there is no alternative to taking into account Russian interests in the security sphere."
"If the futility of such approaches is not obvious to everyone in Washington, we are ready to reiterate that such an option is absolutely excluded under the conditions of the West's waging of an all-out hybrid war against our country under the US leadership," the senior diplomat pointed out.
Ryabkov noted that Moscow had repeatedly provided legal justification for its actions under New START, which were dictated by a significant violation of the treaty by the US. "In full compliance with the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, this gave us grounds to suspend the treaty (the New START - TASS). The speculations of lawyers from the US Department of State, who simply ignore reality, cannot change the actual state of affairs," Ryabkov emphasized.
Putin announced his decision to suspend Russia's participation in New START in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly. The president stressed that Russia was not withdrawing from the treaty, but before discussing the continuation of work under this treaty, the country must understand for itself how New START would take into account the arsenals not only of the United States, but also of other NATO nuclear powers: the UK and France.