Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to extend the New START treaty between Moscow and Washington — the last remaining nuclear arms deal between the two countries — which is due to expire in February.
Speaking at a meeting of his advisory Security Council on September 22, Putin said that allowing the treaty to expire would have negative consequences for global stability.
“Russia is prepared to continue adhering to the central quantitative limitations of the New START treaty for one year after February 5, 2026,” Putin said. He said the United States should do the same.
“We believe this measure will only be viable if the United States acts in a similar manner and does not take steps that undermine or disrupt the existing balance of deterrence potentials,” Putin said.
The treaty was signed in Prague in 2010 by then presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev. The deal limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and envisages sweeping onsite inspections to verify compliance.
Russia paused inspections under the treaty in August 2022 as bilateral ties worsened after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February that year. Putin said in February 2023 that Russia was suspending its participation in the pact, but Moscow stressed it would continue to adhere to the caps on its nuclear arsenal.
Other bilateral arms control treaties governing the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals have collapsed amid acrimony between Washington and Moscow.
Since Donald Trump became US President in January, Russia has indicated it is open to renewed nuclear dialogue with Washington. Putin also suggested a new bilateral arms control agreement could be reached ahead of his talks with Trump in Alaska in August.
Russia has repeatedly sought to move talks with the United States beyond efforts to bring about peace or a cease-fire in Ukraine to include bilateral issues. The idea appears to be to relegate Ukraine to a side issue in a broader, more complex relationship and suggest to the world that the United States and Russia are global powers on equal footing.
There was no immediate response from Washington to Putin’s latest remarks, but Trump has suggested talks on nuclear arms reduction should be broadened to include China, which he sees as the bigger strategic threat to the United States. Trump has also said talks on cutting nuclear stockpiles should take place after a deal is reached regarding Ukraine.
