Putin pulls out of nuclear arms control pact with the US

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is suspending his country’s participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States of America.

Putin made the declaration in his much-delayed annual state of the nation address to Russia’s National Assembly on Tuesday.

The treaty puts limits on the number of deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons that both the US and Russia can have. It was last extended in early 2021 for five years, meaning the two sides would soon need to begin negotiating on another arms control agreement.

Under the key nuclear arms control treaty, both the United States and Russia are permitted to conduct inspections of each other’s weapons sites, though inspections had been halted since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Russia is not withdrawing from the pact completely, it appears to be formalizing its current position. For months, US officials have been frustrated over Russia’s lack of co-operation with the agreement.

Russia did everything to resolve Donbas problem peacefully

Speaking on Ukraine, Putin said Russia did everything to resolve the Donbas problem peacefully.

He insisted that Russia tried to settle the conflict in the Donbas region through peaceful means and that the West was to blame for the war in Ukraine.

“We were doing everything possible to solve this problem peacefully, negotiating a peaceful way out of this difficult conflict, but behind our backs a very different scenario was being prepared,” he said.

The Russian president spoke at length about the West’s involvement in the Ukraine war.

Putin accused the West of withdrawing from fundamental agreements while expanding NATO. “It is them who are culpable for the war, and we are using force to stop it.”

He also said that it was the West that opened the door for Nazi take-over in the 1930s and has been trying to tear away Russia’s “historical lands”.

He also accused the West of funding the 2014 revolution in Ukraine to overthrow the pro-Russian government.