On the 24th of February 2022 Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine.
And, a whole year later, there's still no end in sight.
"I feel panic, scared, and excited. I don't know who I should ask for help. It's scary,
we didn't believe that this situation would come."
According to data from The Institute for the Study of War, Russia controls more than 103
thousand square kilometres or about 17% of the entire country, in areas from Crimea to Kherson,
up the eastern border to Luhansk. But Ukrainian forces have been slowly forcing the Russians out,
all at the expense of the safety of millions and the lives of thousands.
The whole situation isn't how anybody wanted it to be, including Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
So, now he's stepped up the stakes. At the annual state of the nation address in front of Russia's
political and military elite, Putin blamed the West for the war, and made the announcement that
his country would suspend its participation in the New START nuclear weapons reduction treaty.
"I am forced to announce today that Russia
is suspending its participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty."
This has caused quite a stir because the New START treaty is basically the safety barrier
that prevents the world from all-out nuclear war. Despite the name, the START treaty isn't actually
new and neither are nuclear threats. See, after the first nuclear weapons were dropped over Japan
by the US at the end of World War II in 1945, it kind of opened the flood gates for other
countries to start developing their own nuclear weapons, and the nuclear arms race kicked off.
The Soviet Union, which included what we now know as Russia, was the second country
to successfully develop and test a nuclear weapon in 1949, and in the years and decades following,
the likes of the UK, France, China, and India also got on the nuclear bandwagon,
you know, not wanting to be left behind. Since the very first nuclear weapons
in 1945 and the destruction they created there's been the general consensus that...
They're a bit dangerous, hey.
So, experts and government officials world-wide have long campaigned to limit or ban their
use all together. Way back in 1946, the UN called for complete elimination. Then in 1958, the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was formed, which introduced one of the most iconic peace symbols
ever created. A year later in 1959, nuclear tests were banned in Antarctica. Then in 1962,
the Cuban Missile crisis saw the US and Soviet Union knocking on the door of nuclear war, after
the US discovered a Soviet nuclear missile ready to launch in their neighbouring country of Cuba.
Both countries were equally spooked by the thought of the destruction that could very
easily have happened. So, the US and Soviet officials broke out their finest pens and,
in 1963, signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban treaty which banned the testing of nuclear
weapons under water, in the atmosphere, or outer space, as well as pledging to work
towards eventual complete disarmament and an end to the nuclear arms race.
"To make clear our good faith
and solemn convictions on this matter, I now declare that the United States
does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere, so long as other states do not do so."
This was kind of the origin story of the START treaty; an agreement between
the two biggest nuclear super-powers to chill out on the big boom-y things a bit.
Although other countries were getting around the development of their own nuclear weapons,
it was super important for the US and Soviet Union to come to some sort of
agreement because they were responsible for the vast majority of the world's nukes. In fact,
even to this day the US and Russia own around 90% of all the nuclear weapons in existence.
The START treaty is a more modern, and strict version of those nuclear
truces from the mid-century. The first START, aptly named START 1,
was signed in 1991 by then U.S President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev,
and introduced radical reductions to the country's nuclear stockpiles, rather than just limitations.
"We sign the START treaty as testament to the relationship
emerging between our two countries and a promise of further progress towards lasting peace."
Later that year the Soviet Union broke up, leaving four independent republics with nuclear weapons.
Those being Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and, of course, Russia. All of these new independent
nations re-signed and re-started the START 1 agreement in 1994, and by 1997 Belarus and
Kazakhstan had gotten rid of all of their weapons, with the US and Russia drastically reducing their
stockpiles from around 11,000 warheads to just 7,950. Ukraine also got rid of all of their
weapons by 1999. Over the next couple of decades, the START treaty was updated to further tighten
the rules and reduce the number of weapons, which eventually culminated in the introduction
and signing of New START in 2010 by US President Barak Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"This day demonstrates the determination of the United States and Russia, the two nations that
hold over ninety percent of the world's nuclear weapons, to pursue responsible global leadership."
The New START treaty has carried through to today. Well, sort of. See, part of the START's rules
from the beginning in 1991 is each country's right to inspect each other's nuclear weapons,
to make sure they're following the rules. But, in 2020 inspections were put on hold
because of the pandemic and they just haven't happened since. So, the treaty hasn't quite
been working properly for the past few years, but Russia's decision to suspend their end of
the treaty did still surprise many experts around the world. But this isn't the end of the treaty.
"Actually, the treaty is not going to be suspended indefinitely,
according to Putin. He says it's going to be suspended temporarily."
Putin has also said that he won't be the first to launch a nuclear attack and is
fully aware of the devastating consequences nuclear war would create. It's believed that
Putin's decision is a diplomatic move to try and bring the big players, particularly the US,
to the negotiation table, and maybe take some baby steps towards a peaceful resolution.
"If the two sides, and by that I don't mean Ukraine and Russia,
I mean the United States and Russia, would sit down with proper diplomacy
and hear each other's positions, there is grounds for ending this conflict."