President Vladimir Putin said  that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty with the United States that limits the two sides’ strategic nuclear arsenals.

“In this regard, I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty,” Putin told lawmakers towards the end of a major speech to parliament, nearly one year into the war in Ukraine

The New START treaty was signed in Prague in 2010, came into force the following year and was extended in 2021 for five more years just after US President Joe Biden took office.

It caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.

Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, with close to 6,000 warheads, according to experts. Together, Russia and the United States hold around 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads – enough to destroy the planet many times over.