The USA refused to link the future of the START-3 treaty with the support of Ukraine
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The United States will not reduce its support for Ukraine in order for Russia to fulfill the terms of the START-3 treaty, the press secretary of the US State Department, Ned Price, said on Wednesday.
This was a reaction to the statement of Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ryabkov that the decision to suspend Russia’s participation in the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Weapons will be reviewed only after changes in the “behavior of the United States” in relation to Ukraine. These words of Ryabkov were quoted by Interfax.
“Russia’s willingness to promote instability and use irresponsible nuclear rhetoric threatens all countries. Russia’s suspension of the START-3 treaty will not affect the United States’ continued support for Ukraine,” Ned Price emphasized. According to the press secretary of the State Department, the USA and Russia exchanged messages regarding the fate of the treaty, but in the Russian note regarding the decision to suspend START-3, nothing new was said, different from the public declarations of Russian officials.
In December of last year, the United States called on Russia to start consultations on the conditions for the resumption of mutual inspections of intercontinental ballistic missiles provided for by the START-3 treaty. Inspections were interrupted with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Russia refused consultations, and at the end of February, Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of the agreement, saying that Russia would continue to fulfill its terms, except for mutual inspections. The decision, approved by the Duma, was met with sharp criticism in Western capitals.
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