MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. With the buildup of the global US missile defense system, the New START Treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is being devaluated and the strategic balance is shattered, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his State of the Nation Address.

"With the implementation of plans on building the global missile system that is underway now, all agreements as part of the New START Treaty are gradually devaluated. This is because when the number of warhead carriers is reduced, one of the sides, namely the United States, simultaneously and uncontrollably increases the number of interceptors," Putin explained.

"Their quality improves and new missile deployment sites are created and in the end if we do nothing this will lead to the full devaluation of Russia’s nuclear potential," the president stressed. "It will be entirely intercepted, that is it."

"Despite our numerous protests and calls, the American machine got to work and the conveyor was launched," the president said. "A missile system is already operating in Alaska and California. As a result of NATO’s eastward expansion two missile sites were created in Eastern Europe - [one] has been already created in Romania and the deployment [of the other] is nearing completion in Poland."

The range of interceptors will only expand, Putin cautioned. "There are plans to deploy them to Japan and South Korea." The US global missile system includes a naval task force - five cruisers and 13 destroyers, deployed to the areas close to Russia’s territory, he stressed.

"This is not an exaggeration, this work is in full swing," he pointed out.

ABM Treaty

Russia is creating cutting-edge systems in response to the United States’ withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) as Washington did not meet Moscow’s demands, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced. 

"We create state-of-the-art systems of Russia’s strategic weapons in response to the US unilateral withdrawal from the ABM Treaty and the deployment of this system both on the US territory and beyond its national borders," the president said.

Putin recalled that back in 2000 the US spoke about the withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. "Russia was absolutely against this. We considered that the 1972 Soviet-US treaty on missile defense was a cornerstone of the international security system. Under this accord, each side had the right to create only one site on its territory that would protect it from a missile attack," Putin stressed.

"All our proposals were rejected. We stated then that we would be forced to develop a modern missile strike system to ensure our own security," Putin said.