Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, told Newsmax that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "bluffing" by exiting the nuclear arms control treaty signed alongside the United States.
Joining "Eric Bolling The Balance," Goncharenko said Putin was exiting New START as a desperate attempt to regain leverage in a war Russia is increasingly losing.
"That is a part of bluffing," Goncharenko explained. "Putin is bluffing again with nukes. And really, Putin is a coward. You see, he is afraid to come to occupied territories. He is afraid to meet people on a short distance.
"He wants to leave. And for him, to go with nukes would be suicidal," he continued. "And after he will leave Ukraine, he will still control one-seventh of the land mass. ... I don't believe in this."
Several news outlets have said Russia's exit from the treaty is more of a formality than anything. According to The Guardian, the Kremlin had already suspended mutual inspections of nuclear weapons sites and participation in a bilateral consultative commission.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has also said it would continue to exchange information about test launches of ballistic missiles with the United States and respect the New START cap on nuclear warheads.
Goncharenko further commented on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's recent memo telling Russia to stand down from its invasion of Ukraine, proposing there be a temporary cease-fire and for peace talks to commence soon as possible.
"I can't call this a plan," Goncharenko said. "I can tell that President Xi [Jinping] decided it's time to give some position on what's going on in Ukraine, because it looked strange that the country which considers itself a superpower ... don't have any position on the most important process that's happening in the world.
"But really, we can't call these 12 points a plan. I think that would be kind of an overestimation," he added.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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