Moscow:
Due to the lack of trust in the West, Russia plans to build stronger ties with India, among others. Russia's Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, accused the United States of fomenting global conflict and allowing crucial Cold War arms control treaties to fail. He said it is “impossible” for Moscow to establish a “minimum level of trust” in the West.
The Russian army commander claims that any attempt to reach a meaningful arms control deal is being hampered by the West's 'double standards'. The Russian army commander said the issue has become irrelevant to current international relations due to a lack of trust between Moscow and the West.
Russia and the United States – by far the largest nuclear powers – have both expressed regret over the collapse of the tangle of arms control treaties aimed at slowing the arms race and reducing the risk of nuclear war.
“Overall, the issue of arms control remains a thing of the past, as a return to a minimum level of trust is impossible today due to the West's double standards,” Gerasimov said, according to a Reuters report.
Russia's top general said that because Moscow does not trust the US and other Western countries, it would develop ties with China, India, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela.
“Without trust, it is impossible to create an effective mechanism for mutual control,” he told the Defense Ministry.
“Many countries have started to think about adequate response measures,” he added.
The United States, which labels Russia and China as the greatest national threats to the West, blames Moscow for the collapse of agreements such as the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
The United States formally withdrew from the INF Treaty in 2019, citing Russian violations that Moscow denied. The US withdrew from the ABM Treaty in 2002.
President Vladimir Putin in 2023 suspended Russia's participation in the New START treaty, which limits both sides' strategic nuclear weapons, blaming U.S. support for Ukraine. However, Moscow has stuck to the limits on nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers imposed by the agreement, as has the United States.
Gerasimov said the deployment of US missiles in Europe and Asia was fueling “a strategic offensive arms race”, with the build-up of US forces in the Philippines being of particular interest to Russia.
He said Russia has seen increased activity from the US-led NATO military alliance near Russia's borders. After Ukraine struck Russian territory last month with long-range missiles supplied by the United States, the US had become a direct participant in the conflict in Ukraine, the general added.