On Monday, Russia offered to continue adhering to the nuclear warhead limits set by the New START treaty with the United States for one year beyond its expiration in February 2026, but only if Washington reciprocates.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010, remains the last major arms control agreement between the world’s two largest nuclear powers, capping each side at 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads—a nearly 30% reduction from previous limits set in 2002.
Inspections, a key feature of the treaty, were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and have yet to resume. Efforts to extend the treaty have stalled amid escalating tensions over the Ukraine conflict, raising fears that both countries might exceed the limits once the treaty expires.
“Fully abandoning the legacy of this agreement would be, from many perspectives, a mistaken and short-sighted step,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a televised meeting.
“To avoid provoking a strategic arms race, Russia is prepared to continue adhering to the central quantitative limitations of the New START treaty for one year after February 5, 2026,” Putin added. He emphasized that this commitment hinges on the US taking similar steps and not undermining the existing balance of deterrence.
Although Russia froze its participation in New START last year, it has continued to voluntarily comply with the treaty’s limits. The agreement also permitted on-site inspections, but Monday’s proposal did not include resuming these crucial verification measures.
Heloise Fayet, a research fellow at the French Institute of International Relations, told AFP that Putin’s offer appears to be an attempt to “control the narrative” following US President Donald Trump’s recent proposal for denuclearization talks with Russia and China.
Fayet also linked the proposal to Trump’s plan for a massive US air-defense system, dubbed the “Golden Dome,” which Russia views with suspicion.
“If the Golden Dome project gains traction, the Russians imply that the New START limitations could be disregarded,” Fayet explained.
Anti-proliferation talks between Russia and the US, which together hold over 80% of the world’s nuclear warheads, have deteriorated in recent years. In 2019, both countries withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, a landmark 1987 agreement that banned medium-range missiles.
In 2023, Putin revoked Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, though Moscow said it would maintain its moratorium on nuclear testing.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, nuclear tensions have escalated. Shortly after the invasion, Putin placed Russian nuclear forces on high alert and later signed a decree lowering the threshold for nuclear weapon use.
Despite occasional easing of tensions since Trump took office in January, substantive nuclear talks have not resumed. In August, Trump announced the repositioning of two US nuclear submarines in response to “highly provocative” comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
