Russia will STOP warning the US about its missile tests – ending decades of protocol that is designed to stop accidental global Armageddon
- Russian deputy foreign minister said Kremlin will no longer share info with US
- Moscow has prompted fresh concern amid major nuclear preparedness drills
Russia will no longer inform the U.S. of its plans to conduct missile tests, a senior diplomat said today, as Moscow’s military began nuclear preparedness drills in the latest show of the Kremlin’s massive nuclear capability amid the war in Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that Moscow has halted all information exchanges with Washington after previously suspending its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms pact with the U.S.
Along with the data about the current state of the countries’ nuclear forces, the parties also have exchanged advance warnings about test launches.
Such notices have been an essential element of strategic stability for decades, allowing Russia and the U.S. to correctly interpret each other’s moves and make sure that neither country mistakes a test launch for a missile attack.
The termination of missile test warnings appears to mark yet another attempt by Moscow to discourage the West from ramping up its support for Ukraine.
It comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Moscow’s ally Belarus, and coincides with the start of a series of readiness and deployment drills with Russia’s Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system.