For this third and last unraveling of the suspension of the New START treaty, we go back to President Putin’s speech.

Part 1 – Medvedev response

Part 2 – Russian Foreign Ministry response

In fact, the anti-Russia project is part of the revanchist policy towards our country to create flashpoints of instability and conflicts next to our borders. Back then, in the 1930s, and now the design remains the same and it is to direct aggression to the East, to spark a war in Europe, and to eliminate competitors by using a proxy force.

The Western elite make no secret of their goal, which is, I quote, “Russia’s strategic defeat.”

I would like to stress that the United States and NATO are openly saying that their goal is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. And what, after such statements they are supposed to tour our defence facilities, including the latest ones, as if nothing happened?

The following statement is called upping the ante.  Mr Putin, despite his creative wording, is laying out a challenge here.

A week ago, I signed an executive order putting new land-based strategic systems on combat duty. Are they going to poke their nose there as well? Do they think we will let them go there just because?

In the following statement, Mr Putin lays down the new rules for the game by making a bigger than the US alone.  There is a US/NATO/EU alliance here, and it makes no sense to ignore the nuclear ability right across the alliance.  So, Mr Putin in effect is sketching out the new playing field.

In this regard, I am compelled to announce today that Russia is suspending its membership in the New START Treaty. To reiterate, we are not withdrawing from the Treaty, but rather suspending our participation. Before we come back to discussing this issue, we must have a clear idea of what NATO countries such as France or Great Britain have at stake, and how we will account for their strategic arsenals, that is, the Alliance’s combined offensive capabilities.

Their statement comes, in fact, as a request to join this process. Well, come onboard, we do not mind. Just try not to lie to everyone this time and present yourselves as champions of peace and detente. We know the truth. We are aware of the fact that certain types of US nuclear weapons are reaching the end of their service life. In this regard, we know for certain that some politicians in Washington are already pondering live nuclear tests, especially since the United States is developing innovative nuclear weapons. There is information to that effect.

In the previous two comments, from Dmitry Medvedev and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there was no comment on nuclear testing.  Now there is.  If you test, we will test.

Given these circumstances, the Defence Ministry and Rosatom must make everything ready for Russia to conduct nuclear tests. We will not be the first to proceed with these tests, but if the United States goes ahead with them, we will as well. No one should harbor dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be disrupted.

I see no way that Russia could continue to try and carry out its own treaty obligations in what is now essentially a moribund treaty.  Mr Putin essentially broke the last (albeit non-working) limits to a run-away arms race and a nuclear arms race to boot.  This is dangerous strategy because it is a position of ‘let’s start again or let’s not start at all’.  Back to Medvedev:  The decision was prompted by the war declared by the United States and other NATO countries to our country. A decision that will have a huge resonance in the world in general and in the United States in particular.

We, the ordinary folk await the resonances.  In the meantime, responses vary from Stoltenberg saying that the world is now a more dangerous place, and Blinken calling the suspension irresponsible.

The US Ambassador was called to the Foreign Ministry and was handed an ultimatum.

Also see the statement by Douglas MacGregor in the Daily War Room ZZZZZzzzzzz