Russian lawmakers consider suspension of START treaty on nuclear weapons

By Anthony Marcus, for Eurasia Business News, February 21, 2023 - Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the State Duma a draft law on the suspension of the Russian side of the treaty with the United States "on measures to reduce and further limit strategic offensive arms", known treaty under the acronym "START".

According to the President of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, the bill will be examined on February 22 by the Russian deputies, in plenary session and a decision will be taken “without delay”. The document has already appeared in the database. State Duma

Today, February 21, in an address to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of Russia's participation in the START treaty. He stressed that the Kremlin is talking here about a "suspension of participation", not about Russia's withdrawal from the treaty. The Russian head of state explained the reasons for this decision, which according to the Russian side are on the one hand the rejection by the United States of Russian requests for the extension of the START agreement and on the other hand NATO statements on the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the decision to suspend its participation in the START treaty is reversible if the United States makes efforts “ with the aim of general de-escalation and creating the conditions for the resumption of full-fledged operation. of the treaty.

The current Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START-3, was signed in 2010 by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. It limits the number of nuclear warheads of each country to 1550 units, and the number of ballistic missiles (intercontinental, on submarines and heavy bombers) to 700 units. In the winter of 2021, the treaty was extended until February 5, 2026.

The Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on Measures to Reduce and Further Limit Strategic Offensive Arms was signed on April 8, 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic. It replaced the 1991 START I Treaty and upon entry into force replaced the 2002 Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty.

“Russia will respond to any challenges, because we are all one country, one big and united people. We are confident in ourselves, confident in our abilities. The truth is upon us!" the President summed up. https://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70565 . The President signed a Decree (https://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Doc.../View/0001202302210002 ) on awarding the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade the honorary title "Guards" for mass heroism, bravery, resilience and courage shown by its personnel

Highlights of Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech to the Russian Federal Assembly, February 21, 2023:

Since 2014, Donbass has been defending the right to live in its own land, to speak its mother tongue in the conditions of constant bombardments, undisguised hatred of the Kiev regime, waiting for Russia to come to the rescue. Meanwhile, Russia was doing everything possible to resolve this issue peacefully, but behind its back a completely different scenario was being prepared;

Even before the start of the special military operation, Kiev was negotiating with the West for deliveries of air defense systems, combat aircraft and other heavy equipment, openly expressing its desire to acquire nuclear weapons. The United States and NATO were rapidly deploying their military bases and secret biological laboratories near Russia's borders and preparing the Ukraine, which they enslaved, for a great war;

The responsibility for the escalation in the Ukrainian conflict and its victims rests totally with the Western elites and the kyiv regime. They are the ones who started the war, while Russia used and uses force to stop it;

The West has already spent more than 150 billion dollars to arm the kyiv regime. By comparison, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, G7 countries have allocated about $60 billion to help the world's poorest countries over the period 2020-2021;

The more Westerners provide long-range systems to Ukraine, the more Russia will be forced to push the threat from its borders.

The Western elites do not hide their objective: to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, that is to say, to finish us off once and for all. Yet, it is impossible to beat Russia on the battlefield, and that is why Russia's adversaries are carrying out increasingly aggressive informational attacks against us.

The West has deployed not only a military, informational, but also an economic front against Russia. As a result, the perpetrators of sanctions punish themselves. They have caused price hikes in their own countries, job losses, business closures and an energy crisis.

The purpose of anti-Russian sanctions, as Western leaders themselves declare, is to "pain" Russian citizens. Yet the Russian economy and system of governance have proven to be much stronger than the West thought.

According to the latest figures, Russian GDP fell by 2.1% in 2022, while a drop to 20% or even a total collapse was predicted by Western experts. The Russian labor market has even become more comfortable than before, resulting in 3.7% unemployment compared to 4.7% before the pandemic.

Russia suspends its participation in the New Start agreement on nuclear disarmament, but does not withdraw from the treaty. The Russian Ministry of Defense must be ready to carry out nuclear weapons tests, if such tests are carried out by the United States.

Health Effects of the Atomic Bomb on the Japanese.

In 1945, the US launched an offensive on Japan and dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Anyone who was within 1.5 kilometers of the bomb dropping site was instantly killed from the blast. More civilians died from the radiation exposure within a week after the bomb, then people actually killed from the blast. The blast killed 42-93,000 civilians. The death toll was 200,000 after weeks due to intense radiation exposure.

For the first two weeks, people mainly died from burns, wounds from falling structure, and rays. In the 3rd week, people suffered from symptoms of radioactive rays. Symptoms were loss of hair, bleeding, diarrhea. Radiation wave effects were called A-Bomb Illness. Radiation injury penetrates into the human body and harms cells, which causes cell abnormalities. Radiation also causes the destruction of bone marrow and a huge drop in white blood cells.

People also had radiation scars. Keloids were the most common, they were overgrown scar tissue and creates shells on the skin. Years after the bombing, many survivors were diagnosed with Leukemia. This is because of an overgrowth of white blood cells. Thyroid, breast, and lung cancers were also developed. Chromosome changes were also present in some survivors.

The blast itself was not the most significant cause of death, it's the time that followed that ended up killing more people. Even today, Hiroshima and Nagasaki still contain some radiation from the blast. Some argue that if the bomb wasn't dropped, less people would have died, some think otherwise. The majority of Americans today think that the bombing was justified, while the majority of Japanese think opposite.

Sources:

https://atomicbombmuseum.org/3_health.shtml

https://k1project.columbia.edu/news/hiroshima-and-nagasaki