All news

US push to escalate Ukraine conflict changes Russia’s security climate — senior diplomat

"Given all of the circumstances stemming from the destructive and hostile actions of the United States, the suspension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was a step made under compulsion and was practically inevitable," Sergey Ryabkov noted

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. The United States’ policy of escalating the conflict in Ukraine has changed the entire security landscape for Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at an expert panel discussion dubbed "A World Without START: What’s Next?," hosted by the international Valdai Discussion Club on Wednesday.

"Given all of the circumstances stemming from the destructive and hostile actions of the United States, the suspension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) was a step made under compulsion and was practically inevitable," he noted.

"The completely unprecedented level of animosity on the part of the US, its reckless policy of escalating the conflict in Ukraine, and its total and increasingly sophisticated hybrid war against Russia have fundamentally changed the entire security landscape for us," Ryabkov stressed.

According to the senior diplomat, Russia "has not deviated from the assertion that it was the cardinal change in circumstances that led to the suspension of New START." "That’s not a figure of speech on my part, but a reference to legal norms, particularly the 1969 Convention on the Law of Treaties," he added.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty, but was not withdrawing from it. According to the head of state, before resuming any discussions on the continuation of work under the treaty, Russia needs to understand for itself how the document will factor in the arsenals of NATO’s other nuclear powers, the UK and France, together with US nuclear stockpiles.