New START: last US-Russia arms control treaty in jeopardy

By TARA COPP and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Moscow is suspending its participation in the last remaining U.S.-Russia arms control treaty will have an immediate impact on U.S. visibility into Russian nuclear activities. But the pact was already on life support. Putin’s decision to suspend Russian cooperation with the treaty’s nuclear warhead and missile inspections follows Moscow’s cancellation late last year of talks that had been intended to salvage an agreement that both sides have accused the other of violating. In his state-of-the-nation address to the Russian people on Tuesday, Putin said Russia was withdrawing from the treaty because of U.S. support to Ukraine