Russian President Vladimir Putin's suspension of the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States should "make everyone take pause and wonder what Russia's next move is," retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Tuesday.
The New START treaty started in 2011 and limited the number of nuclear warheads deployed by each country, and allowing for up to 18 on-site inspections a year for U.S. and Russian teams. The treaty was extended in 2021 for five years through Feb. 4, 2026.
Putin said in a speech Tuesday that Russia is not withdrawing from the treaty just yet and his Foreign Ministry reportedly said Moscow would respect the treaty's caps on nuclear weapons and Russia would exchange information about test launches of ballistic missiles per earlier agreements with the U.S.
"Russia has the most nuclear weapons on the planet at over 6,700 warheads, and here we are about to cast aside the last remaining vestige of what started really in 1967 with the SALT I agreement," Holt told "Spicer & Co." "Instead of de-escalating and going down that off ramp that we did in the Cold War, we find ourselves going right back up to the dangerous place."
Holt said the rest of Putin's speech indicated how much he is confident Russia is going to win the war and how that does not bode well for the future.
"If you read into the rest of his speech, he's really outlining an assumption that they are going to be victorious in Ukraine," Holt said. "He's talking about their reconstruction plans, what he intends to do with Ukraine.
"I think this is all part and parcel to what we will see coming next, which is a massive Russian offensive in Ukraine, and so we better consider what our logistics commitment is to that country right now."
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