The West accuses Putin of wanting to overthrow the world security order

Russia's decision to "suspend" its participation in the New Start arms control treaty will make the world a "more dangerous" place, NATO and the European Union warned yesterday hours after Vladimir Putin's speech in which he announced that "freezes" its adherence to the last major nuclear arms control pact that remains in force between that country and the United States.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
21 February 2023 Tuesday 16:24
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The West accuses Putin of wanting to overthrow the world security order

Russia's decision to "suspend" its participation in the New Start arms control treaty will make the world a "more dangerous" place, NATO and the European Union warned yesterday hours after Vladimir Putin's speech in which he announced that "freezes" its adherence to the last major nuclear arms control pact that remains in force between that country and the United States.

This announcement, added to the war of aggression launched against Ukraine almost a year ago now, is "one more example" that Moscow is trying to destroy the current world security order. “In recent years, Russia has violated and departed from key arms control agreements. With the decision on the New Start, the entire arms control architecture is dismantled," warned the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg. "More nuclear weapons and fewer arms controls make the world more dangerous," insisted the leader of the transatlantic military organization, who regretted the decision and called on Russia to reconsider its position on the New Start.

The high representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, made an equally gloomy reading of the current moment after his meeting with Stoltenberg and the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dimitró Kuleba, an unprecedented tripartite format with which both organizations want to show their support "unbreakable" to the country and create mechanisms to accelerate and increase its military aid.

“This strategic coordination takes place, let us not forget, against the background of Russia's destruction of the security order. Today we have another proof of this. The suspension of the New Start treaty is another proof that what Putin is doing is demolishing the security system that was built after the end of the cold war. It is clear that we have to start thinking about what it will be like in the future, but for now we must concentrate on maintaining aid to Ukraine,” he said.

"The more coordination there is, the faster we will drive Russia out of our territory and peace can return to the Euro-Atlantic space," said Kuleba, satisfied with the decisions taken by NATO and the EU, including helping his country create a system own arms acquisition that is "effective" and the acceleration of the procedures so that the EU countries acquire ammunition jointly. The minister has also called on NATO to advance its annual meeting with the European defense industry to increase production, improve coordination and speed up deliveries. "Let's be frank, no one thought this war would last that long," but "you have to go fast to speed up victory, which is inevitable," he said.

This week, the UN General Assembly will vote on a resolution condemning the Russian aggression. All eyes are on the vote of certain countries of the so-called Global South, which includes regions of Africa and Latin America. Kuleba denies that the division between the West and the rest of the world is as strong as is thought and recalled that among the 143 votes of support that the previous resolution received were countries from this region, but acknowledged that "we must do more" to work with these countries. “They must understand that this war does not only affect Ukraine, but the defense of rules that also protect them. If they don't defend in the case of Ukraine, they will also be in danger and I don't think it's something they want,” stressed the Ukrainian minister.

NATO, for its part, again challenged the Kremlin's narrative about the nature of the conflict. “The facts are clear and everyone can see them: nobody is attacking Russia. Russia is the aggressor, and Ukraine, the victim of that aggression," Stoltenberg defended, in response to a speech delivered yesterday morning by Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he accused the West of attacking his country to take away its " historical territories that today are called Ukraine”. “It was Russia that started this imperialist war,” but Putin, he insisted, “cannot win. It would be very dangerous for our security and that of the entire world.”