MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law suspending Russia's participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the official database of legal information said on Tuesday.
The law on Russia's suspension of the U.S.-Russian Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms will take effect from the day of its official publication.
The law also noted that the Russian president could make a decision on Russia's resumption of the effect of New START.
According to the explanatory note to the law, the treaty, signed in Prague on April 8, 2010, vests each side with the power to conduct inspections and thereby exercise control over compliance with the treaty.
"Meanwhile, the United States has been purposefully evading the fulfillment of its obligations under the treaty in this area of activity," the document said.
Russian President Putin has previously said that Russia is suspending its participation in New START, but is not withdrawing from the treaty.
"They want to deal us a strategic defeat and are meddling with our nuclear facilities. In this context, I have to declare today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms," Putin said in his address to the Federal Assembly on February 21.