On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin warned Washington that Russia had deployed new ground-based strategic nuclear weapons.

The 2010 New START Treaty limits Russia and the US’s huge Cold War-era nuclear arsenals, which expire in 2026. “Russia is halting its Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty participation today.

“Not first. If the US tests, we will. Global strategic parity cannot be eliminated.”

“I ordered new ground-based strategic systems into battle last week. Will they poke around too? They believe everything’s easy? Are we just letting them in?”

Treaty, “Putin informed his political and military leadership.

The Russian leader warned that some in Washington were considering restarting nuclear testing and that Russia’s defense ministry and nuclear industry should be ready to test Russian nuclear weapons.

The New START Treaty limited both sides to 1,550 warheads on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers. Both sides hit central boundaries by 2018.

In his annual state-of-the-nation speech, Putin pledged to prolong Russia’s year-long war in Ukraine and accused the U.S.-led NATO alliance of stoking the crisis with the false idea that it could beat Moscow in a global struggle.

Putin said Russia would “consistently resolve the challenges facing” it in Ukraine nearly a year after ordering an invasion that sparked the greatest conflict with the West since the Cold War.

Flanked by four Russian tricolor flags, Putin claimed Moscow was moving toward Asia after the West imposed its harshest sanctions.