Athens, Greece - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin's sudden decision to suspend the New START nuclear arms treaty.

"The announcement by Russia that it’s suspending participation in New START is deeply unfortunate and irresponsible," Blinken said in a government statement released from Athens, which he is currently visiting. "We’ll be watching carefully to see what Russia actually does."

Blinken continued, saying that the treaty had been extended at the start of US President Joe Biden's term in 2021 as it had been in the "security interests" of both countries. "And that only underscores what an irresponsible action this is."

He added, however, that the US "[remains] ready to talk about strategic arms limitations at any time with Russia irrespective of anything else going on in the world or in our relationship," because it is "something the rest of the world expects of us."

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The New START Treaty between the US and Russia entered into force on February 5, 2011, according to the US State Department, and marked an important step in post-Cold War nuclear disarmament.

Putin made his shock announcement during an aggressive State of the Union speech delivered on Tuesday, in which he blamed the US and other Western states of provoking Russia's invasion of Ukraine.