The Russian Foreign Ministry did not rule out any scenarios of events after the expiration of the New START

After the START expires, the country must be ready for any development of events, said Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Grigory Mashkov.

The agreement expires in February 2026, and this may cause a “vacuum” in the field of international legal instruments for maintaining strategic stability, Mashkov noted.

“Under such conditions, Russia should be ready for any scenarios”– he clarified in an interview with International Affairs.

Therefore, Russia needs to preserve the already existing missile systems, as well as work out the idea of ​​building up strategic offensive weapons in order to counteract any threats from outside, the ambassador stressed.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry named the conditions for a return to the implementation of the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms.

Recall, on February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Russian Federation was suspending the New START. The head of state stressed that the United States declares its intention to inflict a “strategic defeat” on the Russian Federation, but at the same time, within the framework of control missions, insists on access to Russian nuclear facilities.

The Russian Foreign Ministry commented on Russia’s withdrawal from the treaty and noted that the reason for this was the US policy, which is contrary to the fundamental principles of the New START Treaty.

START is a Russian-American nuclear arms control regime. The Biden administration extended it until 2026, the parties began agreeing on the parameters of a future agreement on the limitation of nuclear weapons, but after the start of the special operation they interrupted the dialogue.