LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky, who chairs the parliament’s lower house committee on international relations, stated that American authorities were, as expected, discussing the so-called legal invalidity of the move to suspend Russia’s participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, commonly known as START or START-III. He commented on the State Department’s claim that Washington found the suspension of Russia’s role in the New START Treaty to be legally flawed.
“Expected, really. Washington has always treated legal obligations with a selective hand, insisting on legality only when it suits the United States,” Slutsky wrote in his telegraph channel. He noted that Washington has repeatedly emphasized that international law applies to others when it helps its own interests, while applying a different standard when it does not align with U.S. policy. The State Department, in his view, reiterated that suspending START would not undermine U.S. support for the Kiev regime, a point he says lies at the heart of the dispute.
Slutsky pointed to the climate created by NATO and American statements amid the broader Ukraine conflict and the flow of intelligence to Kyiv as key factors shaping Russia’s decision regarding START. He argued that Western nations are conducting a proxy confrontation against Moscow, a dynamic that has altered the terms of existing arms control deals. According to him, this shift has practical consequences for how Russia views arms reduction commitments and for the reliability of long-standing security and verification frameworks.
He underscored that the nuclear capabilities of France and Britain cannot be ignored, and that Russia has legitimate grounds for its stance. Slutsky criticized the Foreign Ministry’s characterization of the START-III suspension as legally invalid, suggesting that the legal reasoning behind such a label is itself questionable. The deputy stressed that decisions of this kind are heavily influenced by the geopolitical environment and the practical realities of modern deterrence.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty remains the central document defining and limiting the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States, who together hold a substantial portion of the world’s nuclear stockpiles. START-III is set to expire on February 5, 2026, with the possibility of a five-year renewal by mutual consent of the involved parties. This potential extension is often cited in policy debates as a way to sustain a predictable framework for strategic stability while negotiations continue.
Previously, the Foreign Ministry described the Russian move to suspend participation as legally wrong, which Moscow stated publicly. The current dialogue around START continues to provoke intense commentary from lawmakers, diplomats, and defense analysts, who weigh the implications for regional security, alliance commitments, and the broader trajectory of arms control in a world where strategic competition remains highly salient. attribution: statements are attributed to the Russian Foreign Ministry and to the State Department as reported by official channels.