Russia won't be first to test nuclear device - Deputy FM Ryabkov

Addressing reporters at the Russian mission in Geneva after a disarmament conference, Ryabkov said Moscow would not carry out tests if Washington also refrained, but that Russia still had to prepare for the worst.

Ryabkov also accused the United States of providing intelligence on the location of strategic sites inside Russia to Ukraine, for it to attack them with drones.

In December, Russia's Engels air base near the city of Saratov, home to part of its nuclear-capable strategic bomber fleet and at least 600 km (370 miles) from Ukrainian territory, was hit by drone attacks. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the attacks but celebrated them.

"Some time ago, Kyiv undertook UAV attacks on facilities that provide bases for our long-range aviation in Saratov region and also in Ryazan region. We know that those attacks would never be possible in the absence of very deep and sophisticated assistance by the US to the Ukrainian military, including targeting, of course, intelligence provision and also some technical assistance of other sorts," Ryabkov said.

Ryabkov said that Moscow had been forced to suspend its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty because Washington was using it to help Ukraine attack Russian strategic sites.

Speaking at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Ryabkov said that the United States and its Western allies wanted to see Russia strategically defeated in Ukraine and accused them of fanning conflict there.

"The situation further degraded after US attempts to 'probe' the security of Russian strategic facilities declared under the New START Treaty by assisting the Kyiv regime in conducting armed attacks against them," Ryabkov said.

"Under these circumstances, we were forced to announce the suspension of the treaty."

Ryabkov said the US and Kyiv could end the conflict in Ukraine "tomorrow if they take the right decisions."

Protesting Ryabkov's presence at the event, the permanent representatives of the United States, France and other Western countries at the UN in Geneva stood outside the conference room, posing with blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and signs that read #standwithukraine.

“We were all gathered today to show strong, unified solidarity with Ukraine during this time, as we have done for the past year since Russia’s invasion and aggression against Ukraine has continued, and we were here to make clear that Russia should not be able to participate without accountability in the international system that it is undermining,” said US ambassador, Bathsheba Nell Crocker.

President Vladimir Putin announced last week that Russia was suspending its participation in New START, and signed a law to that effect on Tuesday (February 28).

Signed by then-US president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, the treaty caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that each side can deploy.

Ryabkov, who had previously said the two countries continued to discuss issues around the treaty via "closed channels," said on Thursday that Russia would continue to comply with the limits on strategic offensive arms set by the pact.

Due to expire in 2026, the treaty allows each country to physically check the other's nuclear arsenal, although tensions over Ukraine had already brought inspections to a halt.

Reuters

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