The Russian State Duma will hold an extraordinary session today, following a speech delivered by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Parliamentary Assembly, which dealt with various files, foremost of which was the war in Ukraine.
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had submitted to the State Duma a bill on suspending Russia's participation in the START treaty.
Volodin said that the bill presented by the president will be considered in the plenary session of the State Duma today and a decision will be taken on it, pointing out that it will be sent immediately after that to the Russian Federation Council for ratification.
He stressed that the United States destroyed the structure of international stability by stopping to fulfill its obligations and rejecting Russia's proposals on global security issues.
"They have plunged the world into a state of conflicts and challenges," he added.
option to resort to nuclear weapons
For his part, Dmitry Medvedev, Vice President of the Russian Security Council, declared that Moscow could be "torn apart" if it halted the military operation without achieving victory.
Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel that Russia will defend itself with all weapons, including nuclear weapons, if the United States wants to defeat it.
He added that Washington's intention to defeat Russia could lead to a global conflict, pointing out that the decision to suspend Russia's participation in START is nothing but a result of the positions and actions of the United States and the West and their declaration of war on Russia.
In a related context, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that the hotline established after the Cuban missile crisis is still in place.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West against supporting Ukraine by suspending the last major treaty with the United States to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.
Putin told Russian military leaders and Moscow's political elite that the United States was turning the "special military operation" in Ukraine into a global conflict, and announced Russia's suspension of New START.
The Russian Foreign Ministry later stated that it intended to continue to abide by the treaty's limits on the number of deployable nuclear warheads.
"The elites in the West do not hide their purpose. But they also cannot fail to realize that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield," Putin said.
"They intend to turn a local conflict into a stage of global confrontation," Putin added.