Putin walks out of nuclear pact, says US and Ukraine were ready to attack

'West intends to transform a local conflict into a phase of global confrontation

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a warning to the West over Ukraine by suspending a landmark nuclear arms control treaty, announcing that new strategic systems had been put on combat duty, and threatening to resume nuclear tests.

It came ahead of an address later by President Biden who is in Poland to meet President Andrzej Duda.

Putin said Russia would achieve its aims and accused the West of trying to destroy it.

“The elites of the West do not hide their purpose. But they also cannot fail to realise that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield,” he said.

Alleging that the US was turning the war into a global conflict, Putin said Russia was suspending participation in the New START treaty, its last major arms control treaty with Washington. The pact, signed in 2010 caps the number of long-range nuclear warheads the two sides can deploy and limits the use of missiles that can carry atomic weapons. Putin also said that Russia should stand ready to resume nuclear weapons tests if the US does, a move that would end a global ban on such tests in place since the Cold War era.

In his state-of-the-nation address, Putin tried to justify Russia’s invasion by claiming it had been attempting to allow citizens in the contested Donbas region to speak their “own language” and had been seeking a peaceful solution.

He cited the expansion of Nato and new European anti-rocket defence systems as provoking Russia, and said the objective of the West was “infinite power.”

Putin cast his country — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and said it was Russia, not Ukraine, fighting for its very existence.

He vowed to press on with his faltering invasion of Ukraine until Russia’s goals are achieved and threatened a backlash if the US and its allies supply the government in Kyiv with long-range missiles.

Putin took a swipe at Russia’s business elite urging those “begging” for money in the West to invest at home instead and telling them that ordinary Russians had no sympathy for their lost yachts and palaces.

Expanding ties with Asian countries

Russia is developing the ambitious North-South Transport Corridor, which will open up new routes for business cooperation with India, Iran and Pakistan, as well as West Asian countries. It will expand promising international economic connections, as well as build new supply corridors.

Xi plans to visit Russia

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to visit Moscow for a summit with Russia’s president in the coming months, according to people familiar with the plan, WSJ reported. The meetwill be part of a push for multi-party peace talks and allow China to reiterate its calls that nuclear weapons not be used.