UNITED NATIONS, October 4. /TASS/. Russia cannot rule out that due to the United States’ stance the events involving the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) may follow a negative scenario, Konstantin Vorontsov, the deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, told the First Committee of the UN General Assembly (on disarmament).
"The West continues to raise the stakes, dangerously coming too close to the brink of a direct military clash between nuclear powers. Potential escalation as a result of the US plan to deploy weapons previously banned under the Washington-denounced Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) is deeply alarming," he said.
"One cannot rule out further negative developments over the strategic arms reduction treaty, which has been suspended due to destructive US policies. Washington is clearly capable of other destabilizing steps," Vorontsov added.
On February 21, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was suspending its participation in New START Treaty but not quitting it altogether. He emphasized that in order to return to the discussion of further work under that agreement Russian wished to understand how the arsenals of not only the United States, but also of other NATO nuclear powers - Britain and France - would be counted. On February 28, Putin signed a law suspending Russia's participation in New START.