Vladimir Putin submits draft law on START III treaty to the Duma

Moscow, Feb 22 (Prensa Latina) The head of the State Duma, Viacheslav Volodin, reported that President Vladimir Putin presented a bill to end Russia's participation in the START III treaty.

February 22, 2023
08:36

According to the document, Russia finished its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START III or New START), and the decision to resume involvement in the agreement will correspond to the president, Volodin wrote in a statement this Wednesday on his Telegram channel.

START III was signed in Prague (Czech Republic) on April 8th, 2010 by the presidents of Russia and the United States, Dimitri Medvedev and Barack Obama, respectively, and provides for the reduction of the nuclear arsenals of both countries.

Putin announced yesterday in his annual message to the Federal Assembly that Moscow stopped its participation in the agreement.

The head of state stressed that this measure does not mean that Russia is withdrawing from the treaty, but, in order to resume its participation, it must first understand how the aggregate attack arsenal of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be accounted for, in particular, that of UK and France.

jrr/llp/oda/gfa