President Joe Biden said that Vladimir Putin’s decision to stop taking part in the New START nuclear treaty made the world less safe, but he also said that he doesn’t think that means Putin will use nuclear weapons.
Biden told reporters in Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday that Putin made a “big mistake” before meeting with the Bucharest Nine, a group of eastern-flank NATO allies.
“I don’t think that means he’s thinking about using nuclear weapons or anything like that. He also said that the Russian president’s decision was “not very responsible.”
Biden went on to say, “We are less safe when we back out of arms control agreements that are very much in the best interests of both parties and the world.” “But I haven’t seen anything that makes his posture or what they’re doing change. There is no evidence that this means they are planning to use nuclear weapons or intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Putin said in his Tuesday speech on the state of the nation that Russia would stop following the treaty and wouldn’t let the US or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization inspect its nuclear facilities.
The treaty tries to stop Russia and the US from using nuclear weapons that can reach other continents. It does this by letting each country’s programme be checked.
When he took office in 2021, Biden made the nuclear treaty last until 2026. Last month, the State Department said that Russia broke the terms of the treaty by not letting inspectors in.
