Less than a day after President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that Russia was suspending participation in its nuclear weapons treaty with the United States, the Russian Federation’s State Duma unanimously agreed to formally suspend participation in the treaty.
The rubber-stamp approval by the parliamentary body of Putin’s announcement that Moscow was disengaging from the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) also gives the Russian president exclusive authority to determine when—or if—it will resume participating again.
“As of today, Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty,” Putin said in a Feb. 21 national address to the Federal Assembly that was delivered nearly one year after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine….