CNN
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Russian President Vladimir Putin punctured the balloon of anticipation in his state of the union speech Tuesday. He didn’t declare martial law or announce a new wave of military mobilization; he recycled the same lines about his rationale for invading Ukraine nearly one year ago; and he outlined no vision of how the war he launched might end.
But Putin did offer at least one headline, announcing that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty.
“The US and NATO openly state that their goal is the strategic defeat of Russia,” he said. “And what, after that are we just supposed to let them to travel around our (nuclear) facilities?”
Putin was referring to complaints by US officials that Russia was violating New START, the last remaining arms-control agreement governing the…
