Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Russia's main goal was ensuring that nuclear parity with the United States continued to be respected, Russian news agencies reported.

Mr Peskov was speaking hours after President Vladimir Putin said Russia would suspend its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty that caps the number of nuclear warheads both Russia and the United States can deploy.

"The main goal of the president and our country is to make sure that nuclear parity continues," the TASS news agency quoted Mr Peskov as saying in an interview with state news agencies following Putin's address to Russia's two houses of parliament.

The New START treaty was the last nuclear treaty in force between Russia and the United States - the world's two largest nuclear powers.

Mr Peskov said the Kremlin was currently preparing a document on Russia's suspension of the treaty which it would then submit to parliament to formalise the move.

Vladimir Putin also repealed on Tuesday a law from 2012 outlining Russia's foreign policy which mentioned the New START treaty.

Mr Peskov said the Kremlin would publish a new version of Russia's foreign policy doctrine in the coming days, TASS reported.