On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin put on hold a treaty with Washington related to clean-up of weapons-grade plutonium. Nuclear disarmament seemed to be getting used as a bargaining chip in the conflict over Ukraine and Syria.
It is strange that last week, on Oct 7, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro awarded Putin the Hugo Chavez Prize for Peace and Sovereignty of the People. Maduro said It was given to Putin for being "a fighter for peace, for balance, and a builder of pluripolar, multicentric world."
It is odd then that just recently, Russia launched nuclear missiles from the Barents Sea.
Over the Syria conflict, Putin suspended the disarmament treaty even before Washington suspended talks with Moscow. It is a worrying act as the treaty had been arrived at in 2000, which made it mandatory for the Big Two to dispose of surplus plutonium harnessed for making nuclear weapons.
The agreements signed in 2000 "have so far survived intact despite a souring of US-Russian relations under Putin." So why is Putin suddenly dangling the nuke missiles as a condition for something else? Are they being used as a bait, a smoking gun or a red herring?
Any which way, they expose the world to a scary prospect of imminent global threat, reported earlier by HNGN.
Stratfor, a US-based consultancy, has put out a warning that this could just be the first step taken to reduce many similar nuclear disarmament plans. "Putin's decree could signal that other nuclear disarmament cooperation deals between the United States and Russia are at risk of being undermined," Stratfor commented. "The decision is likely an attempt to convey to Washington the price of cutting off dialogue on Syria and other issues."
On the other hand, Russian foreign minister said: "The step Russia has been forced to take is not intended to worsen relations with the United States. We want Washington to understand that you cannot, with one hand, introduce sanctions against us where it can be done fairly painlessly for the Americans, and with the other hand continue selective cooperation in areas where it suits them."
Russia is accused of not living up to its commitment under a ceasefire agreement, according to John Kirby, US State Department spokesman.
Putin said he would be open to resuming the plutonium accord under a number of conditions that have to be met. He disclosed the conditions in the form of a draft to the Russian Parliament.
They include lifting US-imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, giving compensation to Moscow for them and bringing down the US army presence in NATO member-states in the east of Europe to pre-2000 levels.
In the entire US-Russia conflict, global peace seems to be suffering collateral damage. What does that portend?
