Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia is suspending its participation in the New Start treaty it has signed with the US to limit the strategic nuclear arsenals of both sides.

“Regarding this issue, I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Offensive Weapons Treaty,” Putin said.

The New Start treaty was signed in 2010 and limits the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the US to a maximum of 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads for each side, a 30% reduction from the 2002 cap. It also limits missile launchers and strategic bombers to 800 for each side. What remains is enough to destroy the Earth many times over.

Days ago, NATO allies voiced their support for US protests that Russia is violating the New START nuclear arms control treaty and called on Moscow to return to the path of compliance.

“NATO Allies agree that the New START Treaty contributes to international stability by placing limits on the strategic nuclear forces of Russia and the US,” the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s top political body, said in a statement in early February.

“Accordingly, we note with concern that Russia has failed to comply with legally binding obligations under the New START Treaty.”

In a speech to the Russian people from the floor of the State Duma, three days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin accused the West of “playing a dirty game” with its citizens and with Ukraine but admitted that his speech comes at a “very difficult” time for Russia and in a “very difficult environment”.

Watch live: President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual address to the Russian people ahead of the first-year anniversary of the Ukraine war https://t.co/X3flQUCiPZ https://t.co/dLxukRy37r

— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 21, 2023

He lashed out at the West and NATO, pointing out that they were talking publicly about supplying the Kiev government with nuclear weapons before the start of the war on February 24.

Attempting to justify the “special military operation”, a term Russia uses for the war in Ukraine, he claimed that Russian troops are working “to ensure security” in the “historical land” (referring to Ukraine).

“We had no doubt that in February 2022 everything was ready for a Kiev operation in Donbass. I say it again, they started the war and we used force to stop it,” Putin added. As he said the goal of the West is to gain supreme power and Sevastopol was the next goal.

Continuing his attack on the West, the Russian president claimed that the West will use any means – terrorists, Nazis and even the Devil – to fight his country.

In Putin’s reading Ukrainians had become “hostages of their Western masters” who had taken over the country economically, politically and militarily. “The Kiev regime does not serve the national interests but the interests of foreign powers,” he said characteristically.

He also accused Western countries of trying to turn a local dispute into a global one, saying “we will respond appropriately. We are talking about the existence of our country.”

At the start of his annual address to the nation, Putin also noted that Moscow is defying Western efforts to destroy Russia’s economy through an unprecedented package of sanctions, underscoring that trillions of dollars are at stake for the West, but income flows to Russia have not dried up.

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Russia wanted the conflict in Ukraine to be resolved peacefully, but Western countries had prepared a “different scenario” behind its back, the Russian president also stressed. “We did everything possible to solve this problem peacefully, negotiating for a peaceful resolution of this difficult conflict, but behind our backs a very different scenario was being prepared,” Putin said.

On the occasion of the recent Munich Security Conference, the Kremlin strongman accused the West of unleashing endless accusations against Moscow. “The West has released the genie from the bottle” as a result of the war, and has committed multiple coups, he stressed.

Putin also accused the West of “stealing” Russia’s foreign exchange reserves and said “the Russian economy has overcome all these risks.”

He also stressed that the West has launched “a military as well as an economic attack” against Russia.

“They have not succeeded in any of these areas,” he said, adding:

“The initiators of Western sanctions against Moscow are punishing themselves. They caused prices to rise in their countries, factories to close, the energy sector to collapse, and they tell their citizens that the Russians are to blame.”

Referring to the families of the victims who lost their lives fighting on the Ukrainian front, Vladimir Putin announced the creation of a special fund to help their relatives.

The Russian president was also quick to thank citizens who took part in the controversial referendums held in the partially occupied regions of Ukraine late last year.

“I would like to express a special gratitude to the citizens of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. You yourself determined your future. You made your choice despite the Nazi terror threats. Military operations were taking place next to you and you made the choice to be with Russia. Be with your country.”

In addition, he thanked all members of the Russian armed forces who fought on the Ukrainian front.