There Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, today approved the law for the suspension of Russia’s participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (STAR), the day after Vladimir Putin announced the decision and sent the draft to Parliament. The text, approved unanimously, accuses the United States of having “deliberately” brought about the failure of the treaty for “not respecting the obligations” to which they would be bound.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskovhe said that the reaction of Western countries to Moscow’s decision “is not a reason for hope for any kind of willingness to dialogue or negotiations”.
Russia will be ready to return to the New Start as soon as it sees Western willingness to heed its fears, Peskov said, speaking to reporters. “Everything will depend on the western position”, he replied to a question on Moscow’s conditions for revoking the suspension of the agreement. “As soon as there is a willingness to consider our concerns, then the situation will change.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said today that all exchanges of information envisaged under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty had been suspended, in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announced decision to freeze the participation of Moscow to agreement. “All this is suspended. All exchanges of information, all elements of the understanding related to verification activities are not implemented, taking into account the announcement of the suspension and the expected legislative implementation of the decision,” Ryabkov explained.
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