Biden calls Russian suspension of nuclear treaty ‘big mistake’

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) - Russia's decision to suspend a nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US was a "big mistake," US President Joe Biden told a meeting in Warsaw on Wednesday.

That was Biden’s two-word response when asked by a reporter his opinion of Putin walking away from the New START treaty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday suspended Moscow's participation in the New START arms treaty, a nuclear arms control pact that commits both countries to limit stockpiles of nuclear warheads.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called Russia's decision "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible."

Also at the Warsaw meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the move indicated that "the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled."

- Ukraine help

Stoltenberg said that Ukraine must “get the help it needs” and Russia cannot be allowed to “chip away” at European security.

"We must sustain and step up our support for Ukraine," Stoltenberg said at the Warsaw meeting.

"We have seen the Russian pattern of aggression over many years, Georgia in 2008, Crimea and Donbass in 2014, and then the full-fledged invasion of Ukraine last year," Stoltenberg said, referring to Russia’s earlier moves into sections of Ukraine several years before its large-scale offensive in February 2022.

"We must break the cycle of Russian aggression," Stoltenberg said at the meeting.​​​​​​​