Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia is withdrawing from the START Treaty with the United States which limits the number of nuclear warheads for both sides to 1,550. Putin claims that the U.S. is considering resuming nuclear testing and that Russia is prepared to do the same. Putin also announced that he had put “new ground-based strategic systems on combat duty,” but did not elaborate on the systems to which he was referring. Putin also said that the current war was forced on Russia and the West is trying to escalate the conflict. Putin said, “This is exactly how we understand it all and we will react accordingly, because in this case we are talking about the existence of our country.”
