Russia has yet to receive a response from the United States to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to voluntarily abide by the limitations of the New START nuclear arms control treaty a year after it expires in February. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday.
- Russia is waiting for the US response regarding the New START agreement.
- New START limits nuclear warheads until 2026.
According to him, Putin emphasized that the new potential treaty should include the nuclear arsenals of the entire West. US President Donald Trump insists that China also participate in possible negotiations, but China refuses, reports TASR.
Trump and the new proposal
Trump recently hinted that he might let New START expire without accepting Putin’s offer from last September. “If it expires, it expires,” Trump said of the treaty in an interview with The New York Times. “We’ll just make a better deal,” he added.
Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the agreement as early as 2023, but at the same time promised that Russia would continue to observe limits on warheads, missiles and heavy bombers. Last September, he offered that Russia would abide by the treaty’s restrictions for a year after it expires if the U.S. did the same.
Peskov: A new agreement is necessary
“We have not received an answer yet. We are waiting for a response to Putin’s initiative, as we consider it an extremely important issue,” Peskov said.
At the same time, he recognized that the international community would need a better agreement than the one in force. He added that the United States also wants it.
“We are convinced that it would be more beneficial for everyone to have a more favorable document, a more favorable contract,” Peskov commented on Trump’s recent statement. However, according to Peskov, the conclusion of a new document could be a very complex and lengthy process.
New START: the last treaty
New START is the last valid arms control agreement between Russia and the US, the largest nuclear powers. It limits the number of nuclear warheads the two countries can deploy to 1,550 on each side, down nearly 30 percent from the previous limit in 2002.
New START is officially set to expire on February 5, 2026. As Reuters recently pointed out, the agreement cannot be extended because it was only possible once. Its continuation for a period of five years was agreed by Putin with former US President Joe Biden in 2021.
Ukraine crisis and Trump’s attitude
At the briefing, the Kremlin spokesman also commented on the statement of Trump, who said in an interview with Reuters that Kiev is preventing the conclusion of a possible peace agreement on Ukraine, while Moscow is ready, according to the American president.
“We agree with this statement. It is indeed so. President Vladimir Putin and the Russian side remain open,” Peskov said.
Reuters noted that Trump’s view contrasts with that of Ukraine’s European allies, who say Moscow has little interest in ending the fighting and wants to gain as much territory as possible while trying to stave off further sanctions from the West.
Peskov and the challenge of Kyiv
In connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Peskov also expressed his belief that the situation for Kyiv is getting worse by the day. “And the space for the Kyiv regime to make a decision is narrowing. And of course, the time has long come for (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky to take responsibility and make the appropriate decision,” he added.
