U.S.-Russia Ties Crumble Under Weight of Syria, Nuclear Pact
(Worthy News) – Ties between Russia and the U.S. deteriorated further on Monday after the Obama administration proclaimed bilateral peace talks over Syria dead and Moscow suspended a 16-year-old treaty meant to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation.
The U.S. announced Monday it was withdrawing personnel who had been dispatched to the Middle East in anticipation that a Syrian cease-fire deal reached Sept. 9 would go into effect, a move that would have paved the way toward greater coordination between the U.S. and Russian militaries. That followed Putin’s decision earlier in the day to withdraw from a 2000 accord which committed both countries to eliminating stockpiles of plutonium used as the core material in some types of nuclear weapons.
Halting the plutonium pact is a “forced measure,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to the ministry’s website. Russia viewed the 2000 treaty as an “important step” toward nuclear disarmament, he said. Putin’s decree withdrawing from the treaty accused the U.S. of “unfriendly” actions that posed a “threat to strategic stability.” [ Source ]