Russia says it will leave nuclear weapons treaty

Russian president Vladimir Putin announced he would suspend Moscow's participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty during his annual State of the Nation address on Feb 21. Putin's departure from a decades-long policy of nuclear disarmament came a day after US president Joe Biden visited Kyiv, where he denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Advertisement The US State Department last month declared that Russia had violated the treaty by refusing to allow international inspectors to monitor nuclear sites and ignoring Washington's requests to hold talks on compliance. The treaty, signed by the two countries in 2010, caps the number…