Vladimir Putin suspends Russian participation in nuclear pact with US, warns of 'global confrontation'

While the Constitution mandates that the president deliver the speech annually, Putin never gave one in 2022, as his troops rolled into Ukraine and suffered repeated setbacks. Now the address comes days before the war's first anniversary on Friday.

Moscow:As the war in Ukraine completes one year on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday said Russia was suspending its participation in a treaty with the US aimed at keeping a lid on nuclear weapons expansion even as he threatened a "global conflict" and seemed to justify the use of nuclear weapons in future.

Putin was delivering his state-of-the-nation address in which he justified the invasion and accused the Western countries of threatening Russia. The so-called New START Treaty was signed by Russia and the US in 2010. It caps the number of long-range nuclear warheads they can deploy and limits the use of missiles that can carry atomic weapons. Putin said that Russia was not fully withdrawing from the treaty yet. He said Russia must stand ready to resume nuclear weapons tests if the US does so, news agency Associated Press reported.

“Western elites aren’t trying to conceal their goals, to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ to Russia,” Putin said in the speech broadcast by all state TV channels. “They intend to transform the local conflict into a global confrontation.” He added that Russia is prepared to respond to that as “it will be a matter of our country’s existence.”

Participants gather to listen Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual state of the nation address in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday (AP Photo)

“It’s they who have started the war. And we are using force to end it,” Putin said before an audience of lawmakers, state officials and soldiers who fought in Ukraine. Putin railed against the West in his long-delayed address, a speech expected to shed light on how the Kremlin sees its bogged-down war in Ukraine and set the tone for the year ahead.

Putin cast Russia — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and said Russia, not Ukraine, was the one fighting for its very existence. “We aren’t fighting the Ukrainian people,” Putin said in a speech days before the war’s first anniversary on Friday. Ukraine “has become hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, which have effectively occupied the country.”

Putin has frequently justified his invasion of Ukraine by accusing Western countries of threatening Russia. They say nothing could be further from the truth and that Moscow's forces attacked Ukraine unprovoked. While the Constitution mandates that the president deliver the speech annually, Putin never gave one in 2022, as his troops rolled into Ukraine and suffered repeated setbacks. Now the address comes days before the war's first anniversary on Friday.

The West is aware that “it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield,” so it launches “aggressive information attacks” against Russia by “misconstruing historical facts,” attacking Russian culture, religion and values, Putin said in the speech broadcast by all Russian state TV channels.

Before the speech, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian leader would focus on the “special military operation” in Ukraine, as Moscow calls it, and Russia’s economy and social issues. Many observers predicted it would also address Moscow’s fallout with the West — and Putin began with strong words for those countries.

Underscoring the anticipation ahead of time, some state TV channels put out a countdown for the event starting Monday, and Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday morning said the address may be “historic.” The Kremlin this year has barred media from “unfriendly” countries, the list of which includes the U.S., the U.K. and those in the EU. Peskov said journalists from those nations will be able to cover the speech by watching the broadcast.

Political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya said the address was expected to be very hawkish, aimed at defiantly breaking off relations with the West. In the wake of U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to Kyiv on Monday, additional edits can be made to make it even harsher. Peskov told reporters that the speech's delay had to do with Putin's work schedule, but Russian media reports linked it to the multiple setbacks Russian forces have suffered on the battlefield in Ukraine. (With Agency inputs)