Kremlin says West's reaction on START suspension shows 'lack of readiness to dialogue'

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The West's reaction to Russia's suspension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) shows lack of readiness to dialogue, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

Speaking at press briefing in Moscow, Peskov said the future of the treaty will depend on the West's position; as soon as it is ready to take into consideration Russia's concerns, the situation will change.

"Time is passing, circumstances are changing, and here it is very important for Russia to do everything to ensure its own security, including in matters of strategic stability and arms control, he said, adding that it is also "very important for Russia to maintain a patient approach" while waiting for opponents "to mature for a normal dialogue."

Asked if Putin plans to run for the presidency in 2024, Peskov said he had not heard any statements in this regard and did not know whether the Russian leader planned to make any announcements in this regard.

Addressing the Russian parliament on Tuesday, Putin announced that Moscow will suspend its participation in the treaty due to the US involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

Western powers, as well as the UN, have urged Moscow to reconsider its decision, saying a world without nuclear arms control is far more dangerous.

The New START treaty, signed in 2010 by then US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.

Russia and the US agreed to extend it for another five years in February 2021.

- Wagner group, Nord Stream investigation

The spokesman readdressed to the Russian Defense Ministry questions about tests of Sarmat nuclear missiles and complaints of Wagner mercenary group head over ammunition supply, and to Beijing a question about China's peace plan for Russia and Ukraine.

The official said that he had nothing to add to the statement by Chinese authorities about alleged military help to Russia

"They have already answered this question, they have strongly refuted it. There is nothing to add here," he stressed.

Peskov vowed to continue efforts aiming "to prevent the collective West from hushing up the search for those responsible for sabotage" on Nord Stream gas pipelines.

"On the one hand, we managed to draw attention to the need for a thorough and transparent investigation in order to confirm those suspicions, which are supported, by the way, by some rather detailed, surprisingly, investigations into who could be behind this sabotage, which can and should be qualified as a terrorist act in relation to a critically important the European continent of energy infrastructure," he said.

The West, for its part, shows unwillingness to investigate the incident, and tries to remove the matter from international agenda, he added.

"We will continue to work to prevent them from doing this," he said.

Peskov regretted that Moscow's capabilities "are limited," as the incident happened in the territorial waters of other states, which currently "categorically deny Russia the right to participate in the investigation or conduct its own."

"We regard this as a very, very negative manifestation that does not contribute to the search for the truth and the identification of those responsible for this terrorist act. But, of course, Russia will continue to do everything possible," the Kremlin representative summed up.

Last September's explosions caused major ruptures and gas leaks from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines that run from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Officials say sabotage was a likely cause of the incident.

On Feb. 8, American investigative journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh published the results of his own investigation into the explosions, claiming that the US Navy divers, with the support of Norwegian specialists, laid explosive devices under the gas pipelines in June 2022 under the cover of the Baltops military exercises.

According to Hersh, the decision about the operation was made by US President Biden following nine months of discussions with administration officials responsible for national security issues.