Russia Suspends Participation in New START Treaty, Citing US Policy Undermining National Security

UNITED NATIONS, April 30. /TASS/. Moscow suspended its participation in the New START Treaty as it has all the grounds to think that the United States' policy was geared to undermine Russia's national security, Russian Ambassador at Large Andrey Belousov said. "As for Russia's decision to suspend participation in the New START, it had all the grounds to state that the US policy was geared to undermine our national security, which contradicts the fundamental principles and understandings that are committed to paper in the New START's preamble and that constitute the core of the treaty. In fact, the situation changed dramatically compared to the one when the New START was signed, which served as a basis for the decision to suspend it," he said at the 11th NPT Review Conference. "Moreover, even before the suspension of the treaty, Washington seriously violated the document's pivotal provisions on the quantitative restrictions on relevant weapons. These are just two reasons why the treaty was suspended," he noted. The Russian diplomat recalled that back in September 2025, before the New START's expiration date, President Vladimir Putin came out with an initiative to show restraint in the nuclear sphere and continue complying with the restrictions on strategic weapons set by the document for one more year.