Russian lawmakers back suspension of nuke pact

Ukrainian servicemen fire a mortar toward the Russian position on a frontline not far from Bakhmut in Donetsk region Monday. Pic/AFP

The lower house of Russia's parliament on Wednesday quickly endorsed President Vladimir Putin's move to suspend the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the United States, with officials and lawmakers casting it as an eleventh-hour warning to Washington amid the tensions over Ukraine.

Putin declared that Moscow was suspending its participation in the 2010 New START treaty in his state-of-the-nation address Tuesday, saying that Russia can't accept US inspections of its nuclear sites under the pact while Washington and its NATO allies have openly declared the goal of Russia's defeat in Ukraine.

He emphasised that Moscow was not withdrawing from the pact altogether, and the Russian Foreign Ministry said the country would respect the caps on nuclear weapons set under the treaty and keep notifying the US about test launches of ballistic missiles.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council chaired by Putin, emphasised Wednesday that the suspension of Russia's participation in the pact was a signal to the US that Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons to protect itself. "If the US wants Russia's defeat, we have the right to defend ourselves with any weapons, including nuclear," Medvedev said on his messaging app channel. "Let the US elites who have lost touch with reality think about what they got. If the US wants Russia to be defeated, we are standing on the verge of a global conflict."

Also Read: Putin lashes out at West, defends Ukraine invasion in major speech

U.S. President Joe Biden met leaders of NATO's eastern flank on Wednesday to show support for their security after Moscow suspended the treaty, which he called a "big mistake". "You're the frontlines of our collective defense," Biden said Wednesday of the Bucharest Nine countries group, the eastern flank NATO allies. "And you know, better than anyone, what's at stake in this conflict? Not just for Ukraine, but for the freedom of democracies throughout Europe and around the world." He pledged that NATO's mutual-defense pact is "sacred" and that "we will defend literally every inch of NATO."

Putin meets China's top diplomat

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that China's Xi Jinping would visit Russia, saying relations had reached "new frontiers" amid U.S. concerns that Beijing could provide material support to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "We await a visit of the President of the People's Republic of China to Russia, we have agreed on this," Putin told Wang Yi, China's top diplomat at the Kremlin. "Everything is progressing, developing. We are reaching new frontiers," Putin said. The relationship between China and Russia, Wang said, was not directed against any third party but equally would "not succumb to pressure from third parties" - a clear jab at the US.

Pope urges ceasefire in Ukraine

Pope Francis, speaking before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on Wednesday called for a ceasefire. "The number of dead, wounded, refugees and displaced people, the (amount of) destruction and economic and social damage speak for themselves," Francis said.

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