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A senior Russian diplomat says Moscow has suspended the sharing of information about its nuclear forces with the United States, including notices about missile tests.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov made the announcement in remarks today reported by Russian news agencies.
He said all information exchanges with Washington have been stopped after the Kremlin halted its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms pact with the US.
Last month, Vladimir Putin suspended the New START treaty, saying Russia could not accept US inspections of its nuclear sites under the agreement at a time when Washington and its Nato allies had openly declared Russia’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal.
Moscow emphasised that it was not withdrawing from the pact altogether and would continue to respect the caps on nuclear weapons.
The Russian foreign ministry initially said Moscow would continue to notify the US about planned test launches of its ballistic missiles.
It came as the Russian military conducted drills of its strategic missile forces, deploying mobile launchers in Siberia in a show of the country’s nuclear capability amid the fighting in Ukraine.
And it follows comments published yesterday, from Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s security council, which warned the US and its allies against harbouring hopes for Russia’s defeat in Ukraine.
“Russia is patient and isn’t trying to scare anyone with its military superiority, but it has unique modern weapons capable of destroying any adversary, including the United States, in case of a threat to its existence,” Mr Patrushev said.
The US said yesterday that it was now “legally permitted to withhold our biannual data update in response to Russia’s breaches” of the START agreement.
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