Putin Escalates Ukraine Conflict, Breaks Nuclear Deal With U.S.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has just escalated his war on Ukraine, breaking a nuclear agreement with the United States in the process. While President Joe Biden traveled to Poland after his surprise visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky, Putin delivered a speech full of chilling warnings to the West, including that Russia would be pulling out of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, also known as New START.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a stark warning Tuesday that he would be suspending his nation’s participation in a nuclear arms treaty, threatening to resume testing of nuclear weapons.
Putin made his speech almost exactly a year after the invasion of Ukraine began, accusing the “elites of the West” of escalating international tensions.
“The elites of the West do not hide their purpose. But they also cannot fail to realize that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield,” Putin said.
The Russian president went on to announce he would be pulling Russia out of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, a bilateral agreement signed by former Presidents Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.
And now add to this the announcement from China that its President Xi Jinping will be traveling to Moscow to meet with Putin. As we reported yesterday, there are rumors that China is preparing to provide weapons and supplies to Russia in support of its war on Ukraine. It appears that China sees President Biden sending a fortune to Ukraine to bolster its defenses, and now it’s going to do the same for its ally Russia.
In regards to the New START treaty, President Putin said that now Russia will do as it pleases with its nuclear programs. That is a huge statement, and it ought to make your blood run cold. The last year in Ukraine alone has shown the world what happens when Russia, under the clenched fist of Vladimir Putin, does what it pleases. We cannot for a moment let Putin think he can continue to do whatever he wants, needlessly costing tens of thousands of lives and putting the entire world in jeopardy.
Our own ACLJ Senior Military Analyst Col. Wesley Smith agreed that the Russian President is escalating his offensive on Ukraine, and he also offered insight into what Russia’s withdrawal from New START means and why it’s a disingenuous move anyway, given that Putin hasn’t been abiding by the treaty in years:
It’s a huge escalation, and, you know, wars frequently, without our intentions, they spiral out of control. I have a blog about our unique and troubled relationship with China. China right now has more launch sites for nuclear weapons than Russia or the United States. I know last week President Biden said we do not want another Cold War with China. In fact, we are already in a Cold War with China.
But concerning this New START treaty that he says they are suspending, it limits the number of deployable nuclear warheads, not the number of warheads – between the U.S. and Russia, there’s 13,000 warheads. What this does is take those that are deployable, that are ready to launch, and limits them to 1,550 each. It also allows inspectors 18 times a year in each country to inspect the sites. This is what President Putin has suspended, but here’s the deal, Russia has not kept this treaty or abided by it since 2020. So he suspends it, but in the meantime, he hasn’t abided by it anyway.
Today’s full Sekulow broadcast includes further analysis of Putin’s duplicitous announcement that he is pulling Russia out of the New START nuclear agreement and what the implications could be to our security, as well as how China’s involvement could heavily affect this conflict.
Watch the full broadcast below:
Support the work of the ACLJ as we continue to bring you expert analysis and legal action on the issues that matter most.
