By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Related Press
MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin on Monday welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s feedback about Russia’s supply to increase the final remaining nuclear arms treaty with america, saying it raises hope for protecting the pact alive after it expires in February.
Final month, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared his readiness to stick to nuclear arms limits underneath the 2010 New START arms discount treaty for another yr, and he urged Washington to observe swimsuit. When requested in regards to the proposal, Trump stated Sunday it “sounds like a good idea to me.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed Trump’s assertion, noting that “it gives grounds for optimism that the United States will support President Putin’s initiative.”
Whereas providing to increase the New START settlement, Putin stated its expiration could be destabilizing and will gasoline proliferation of nuclear weapons. He additionally argued that sustaining limits on nuclear weapons is also an necessary step in “creating an atmosphere conducive to substantive strategic dialogue with the U.S.”
The Russian chief reaffirmed the supply Thursday, noting that Russia and the U.S. might use the one-year extension to work on a attainable successor pact.
Such an settlement will contain advanced talks that might take care of battlefield nuclear weapons and potential strategic weapons methods that Russia has developed, Putin stated.
“We haven’t forgotten about anything that we have planned, the work is ongoing and it will produce results,” he declared at a discussion board of worldwide overseas coverage consultants.
He talked about the longtime U.S. push for together with China in any potential nuclear arms management pact however emphasised that it’s as much as Washington to attempt to persuade Beijing to take action. China has rejected the concept, arguing that its nuclear arsenals are far smaller than these of the U.S. and Russia.
Putin additionally argued that the nuclear arsenals of NATO members Britain and France needs to be included in a potential settlement.
He famous on the discussion board that some within the U.S. oppose New START’s extension, and “if they don’t need it, we don’t need it either. We feel confident about our nuclear shield.”
Putin’s supply got here at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the West, with considerations rising that combating in Ukraine might unfold past its borders.
The New START, signed by then-U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, limits every nation to not more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The pact additionally stipulates the necessity for on-site inspections to confirm compliance, though inspections have been halted in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and by no means resumed.
The treaty was initially imagined to expire in 2021 however was prolonged for 5 years.
Arms management advocates lengthy have voiced concern in regards to the treaty’s looming expiration and the shortage of dialogue to safe a successor deal, warning of the potential for a brand new nuclear arms race and the elevated danger of a nuclear battle.
The Related Press receives help for nuclear safety protection from the Carnegie Company of New York and Outrider Basis. The AP is solely liable for all content material.
Initially Revealed: October 6, 2025 at 10:32 AM EDT
