Putin suspended Russia’s participation in START and scared off NATO

RIA Novosti: the new nuclear parity was born on Novaya Zemlya thanks to PutinOn February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to the Federal Assembly, and the next day the State Duma and the Federation Council unanimously approved the Head of State’s bill to to suspend our country’s participation in the new START treaty. However, there was another important point in the speech of the Russian leader: he demanded that the Ministry of Defense and Rosatom guarantee the availability of the nuclear test site in the Arctic in order to test new types of weapons.The West reacted immediately. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the North Atlantic Alliance regrets Putin’s decision because it shows the whole Russian arms control system. US President Joe Biden also spoke: he called the Russian leader’s decision a big mistake. The representative of the US State Department, in turn, added that Washington is ready to resume negotiations with Russia to discuss the provisions of the START treaty.Sergey Ryabkov, deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, cited several historical facts that the president did not add to his speech so as not to stretch it. For example, he recalled that the West does not include in the lists of weapons concerned the nuclear arsenals that France and Great Britain have. In addition, the United States in 2022 hid almost 500 warheads of various capacities. At the same time, Washington demanded full and unhindered access from Russia to all of its arsenals and storage bases, including closed and secret ones.Ryabkov, like Putin in his speech to the Federal Assembly, stressed that Moscow had suspended its participation in the New START treaty, not withdrawn from it. This was done in response to inadequate US and NATO policies, as well as in the context of covert attempts to reformat nuclear strike doctrine.The general message here is: Russia is always ready to negotiate, but only on terms of equality and openness, writes RIA News .If we talk about the President’s order to reopen the Soviet nuclear test site beyond the Arctic Circle, then this news came as a complete surprise only to the West.Since the beginning of the 50s of the last century, three polygons have been operating simultaneously on Novaya Zemlya. It was in this region that there was a weapon of monstrous destructive power, the presence of which did not allow the West to destroy the USSR.After the collapse of the Soviet Union, life began to gradually leave the Russian Arctic. Military camps began to die out, mines and coal mines were closed. However, the landfill near Cape Dry Nose was saved.Russia has strike potential, scientific developments and a huge polar laboratory where experiments can be carried out. As in the USSR, our country is now forced to defend itself, since the overseas “partners” only regain meaning when a thermonuclear rifle is thrust into their noses.Earlier, the Pentagon said Russia gave US authorities advance notice of planned tests of an intercontinental ballistic missile.