NATO regrets Moscow's decision to suspend participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a press conference that took place some time after Putin's Address to the Federal Assembly on February 21.
Stoltenberg accused Russia of violating key arms control agreements.
"With today's decision on New START, the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled,” Stoltenberg stressed.
Stoltenberg stressed that he "strongly" recommends Russia should reconsider this decision.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said that the United States was ready to discuss arms control issues with Russia at any time.
During his Address to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of Moscow's participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START-3) that Russia had concluded with the United States.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called Russia's decision an unfortunate move.
When returning to the discussion of the START-3, the arsenals of France and Great Britain should be taken into account as well — i. e. NATO's entire strike potential, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In his speech on Feb. 21, Putin in particular said:
"The first START treaty between the USSR and the USA was concluded in 1991 under fundamentally different conditions. The USSR and the USA then reached a point in their relations when they did not consider each other adversaries.”
"It's all history now. Our relations have degraded, and this is the merit of the United States. It was them who came to build the world the American way, with only one master. The goal was to break the system of relations that developed after the Second World War, regardless of the interests of other countries.”
"In early February, NATO made a statement demanding that Russia should return to the implementation of strategic arms treaties, with the admission of inspections to our military facilities. <…> In the modern conditions of today's confrontation, this sounds like some kind of nonsense. They do not allow us to conduct inspections.”
"The United States and NATO openly say that their goal is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.”