Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Tuesday that Russia pulling out from the strategic arms reduction treaty "should scare everybody."
Mast told "Eric Bolling The Balance," that Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision will keep the United States in the dark regarding the amount, location, and technology of the Kremlin's nuclear weapons.
Putin's saying, "'I'm not interested in America deterring Russia, or the other way around," Mast explained, stressing Russia will not disclose how many nukes they "have out there on a wing of an aircraft, or in a submarine, or in a land-based system."
"'We're not going to tell you what their range is, whether they're tactical or strategic,'" he continued. "'We're not going to tell you if we're developing new ones ... and we're not going to let allow anybody to come in and inspect these things.'"
Mast also argued the U.S. nuclear posture was falling behind and insufficient to meet Russia in a situation where "none of us right now, because of Ukraine, can say we have a 0% chance of nuclear war."
His comments arrive several hours after Putin told his National Assembly of the move during Russia's annual State of the Nation address. Later, Kremlin officials clarified they would not withdraw from the pact completely and the decision was "reversible."
The new strategic arms reduction treaty, enacted in 2011 under the Obama administration, limits the number of deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons the U.S. and Russia can have.
In addition, it permits the two countries to conduct inspections of each other's weapons sites.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Putin's formalization of the roughly two years both states lacked cooperation on nuclear-related topics as "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible."
"We will be watching carefully to see what Russia actually does," Blinken said. "We will, of course, make sure that ... we are posturing appropriately for the security of our own country and that of our allies."
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