Authored by Dave DeCamp through AntiWar.com,

Russian Deputy Overseas Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated Thursday that one of many causes Moscow suspended its participation within the New START treaty was as a result of the US helped Ukraine assault a facility housing Russian nuclear weapons.

New START is the final nuclear arms management treaty between the US and Russia and limits the deployment of warheads and launchers, together with heavy bombers assigned to nuclear missions. Ryabkov stated Ukraine launched an assault on services declared beneath New START.

“The state of affairs was additional escalated by US makes an attempt to probe the safety of Russian strategic services declared beneath New START by serving to the Kiev regime to hold out armed assaults on them,” he informed the Convention on Disarmament in Geneva.

In December, Ukrainian drones focused the Engels airfield, a base deep inside Russian territory that homes Russian strategic bombers which can be able to carrying nuclear warheads, though it’s not clear in the event that they have been on the time. 

NATO army sources informed Asia Instances that Ukraine employed drones within the assault on Engels and one other airfield that used US satellite tv for pc GPS information to hit their targets.

Ryabkov stated Ukraine wouldn’t be capable to goal Russian infrastructure with out assist from the US. “We all know that these assaults would by no means be potential in absence of a really deep and complicated help by the US to the Ukrainian army,” he stated.

The Russian diplomat stated that regardless that Russia suspended its participation in New START, it will nonetheless preserve its nuclear deployments throughout the limits of the treaty.

“Below these circumstances, we have been pressured to announce the suspension of the New START Treaty. On the identical time, because it has already been acknowledged, we’ll proceed to stick to the quantitative restrictions enshrined in New START,” he stated.

Ryabkov additionally warned that US assist for Ukraine might result in a direct conflict between nuclear powers. He stated the US and NATO’s “growing involvement within the army confrontation is fraught with a direct army conflict of nuclear powers with catastrophic penalties.”