Putin signs bill to suspend last nuclear arms pact with US

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill suspending the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the United States. Putin declared that Moscow was suspending its participation in the 2010 New START treaty a weeek ago, charging that Russia can’t accept U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites under the pact at a time when Washington and its NATO allies have openly declared Russia’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal. Both houses of parliament quickly ratified Putin’s bill on the pact’s suspension last week. On Tuesday, Putin signed it into law. He has emphasized that Moscow was not withdrawing from the pact altogether, and the Russian Foreign Ministry said the country would respect the treaty’s caps on nuclear weapons.