Kremlin: Russia's Main Goal Is To Maintain Nuclear Balance

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. (Wikimedia Commons/Yellowmen

JAKARTA - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Russia's main goal is to ensure that the nuclear balance with the United States continues to be respected, Russian news agencies reported.

Peskov spoke hours after President Vladimir Putin said Russia would suspend its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty, which limits the number of nuclear warheads that Russia and the United States can deploy.

"The main goal of our president and our country is to ensure that the nuclear balance continues," the TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying in an interview with the state news agency, after President Putin's address to the two houses of Russia's parliament.

The New START Treaty is the last valid nuclear agreement between Russia and the United States, the world's two largest nuclear powers, with their strengths accounting for 90 percent of the world's nuclear warheads.

Peskov said the Kremlin was currently preparing a document regarding Russia's suspension of the agreement, which would then be submitted to parliament to formalize the move.

President Putin also revoked a law from 2012 outlining Russia's foreign policy that mentioned the New START treaty on Tuesday.

Peskov added that the Kremlin will publish a new version of Russia's foreign policy doctrine in the coming days.