Russia suspending nuclear arms treaty makes world more dangerous: Nato chief

Brussels, Feb 21 (IANS) Russias decision to suspend the New Start arms control treaty makes the world a more dangerous place, the Secretary General of Nato has said, according to a media report.

"More nuclear weapons and less arms control makes the world more dangerous," Jens Stoltenberg said, urging Russia to reconsider its decision, The Guardian reported.

"This is one of the last major arms control agreements we have," he said, and "just another example" of a move away from the international rules-based order.

Speaking alongside him, the EU Foreign Policy chief, Josep Borrell, said that Kremlin's decision to abandon the New Start treaty was "another proof that what Russia is doing is demolishing the security system that was built at the end of the Cold War," The Guardian reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced that he is suspending Russia's participation in the New Start treaty with the US in a long speech in which he blamed the west for starting the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters at Nato's headquarters in Brussels shortly after the Russian President had finished speaking, Stoltenberg said, "A year ago, President Putin launched his illegal war against a peaceful neighbour. The facts are clear for all to see. Nobody is attacking Russia. Russia is the aggressor. Ukraine is the victim of aggression and we are supporting Ukraine's right to self-defence, a right which is enshrined in the UN charter. It is President Putin who started this imperial war of contest, it is Putin who keeps escalating the wa", The Guardian reported.

When the war ends, Stoltenberg said, "long-term arrangements for Ukraine's security" would be needed "to break the cycle of Russian aggression".

He was speaking alongside Borrell and Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, as the trio held their first trilateral meeting of its kind. According to Kuleba, they discussed military training, weapons and procurement, with a pledge to help Ukraine "procure weapons and ammunition most effectively" and ensure they were delivered to the battlefield, The Guardian reported.