Last night, official Moscow announced that it was suspending the American controls on the Russian military bases provided for by the "New START" agreement for the nuclear disarmament of the two superpowers. The decision was made in response to Russian interference with controls on US nuclear facilities.

Russia has "officially notified" the US that all of its bases that are scheduled for inspection under New START will be "temporarily exempted". We are talking about missile air and naval bases in which there are nuclear warheads.

"The Russian Federation is forced to take this measure due to the current situation that gives the United States a unilateral advantage and deprives Russia of the right to carry out inspections on American territory," the Russian diplomacy said in a statement.

The "New START" agreement is the last bilateral agreement of its kind signed by the two largest nuclear powers in the world. Under the 2010 document, the two nuclear powers' arsenals are limited to 1.550 warheads, nearly 30 percent less than the maximum agreed upon in 2002.

The deal, which was extended for five years in January last year, allows authorities in Moscow and Washington to conduct about two dozen inspections each of rival nuclear facilities.