(Photo : PAVEL BEDNYAKOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
In his state of the nation address, Vladimir Putin accused the West of attempting to destroy Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned the West over Ukraine by suspending a major nuclear arms control deal and threatening to renew its nuclear weapons testing.
Vladimir Putin declared that his forces would win the Russia-Ukraine war. He also said that the West was trying to destroy Russia, almost a year after he dispatched troops to invade Ukraine.
Putin warned that the United States was turning the Russia-Ukraine war into global warfare by pulling out of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), the final major nuclear treaty between Russia and the United States, according to Reuters.
The nuclear treaty was signed in 2010 by then-US President Barrack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev. It restricts the number of strategic nuclear weapons that any country may have on its territory at any given time. The nuclear treaty will expire in 2026.
Read Also: Major Winter Storm To Hit US
Russia To Prepare For Resumption of Nuclear Arms Tests
In his state of the nation address, Vladimir Putin said that he is "forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty," The Independent reported.
Putin also underscored that Russia should prepare to begin nuclear weapons testing if the US does, ending a worldwide moratorium on such testing that has been in place since the Cold War.
Vladimir Putin also blamed the expansion of NATO and the deployment of new European anti-rocket defense systems for sparking the Russia Ukraine war,
The Russian head of state's pronouncement came following US President Joe Biden's surprise visit to Kyiv, wherein he promised an additional $500 million in military aid to Ukraine, as per a previous HNGN report.
On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine and rushed forward to Kyiv to swiftly capture the capital. But Western-backed Ukrainian soldiers put up a strong fight against Moscow's invasion. Ukraine has taken back many of the territories that Russia had previously seized, per AP News.
Related Article: Saudi FM Clarifies Stand on Russia, Iran Nuclear Deal
