Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has described Russia’s suspension of its participation in the New START arms treaty as a “trick” to step up pressure.
“Practically, I would say that there was a very limited real implementation of this agreement,” she told the US broadcaster CNN on Wednesday. “It is in Putin’s habit to use tricks like that to increase pressure; there is no surprise in this.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that his country was suspending its participation in the treaty because of US support for Ukraine and accused Washington and its NATO allies of openly seeking to destroy Russia.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called Russia’s suspension of the nuclear treaty a “big mistake”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pressing the US and its European allies to send fighter jets and long-range missile systems, but Biden has so far refused to do so.
“Lithuania supports Ukraine’s pledge to get the weapons they need to push Russia out of their country, be that tanks or jets or whatever they need,” Šimonytė told CNN.
“It would be of best interest of all the countries that can provide the relevant weapons or relevant means to make those decisions faster rather than later,” she added.
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