Kremlin welcomes Trump's statement on Putin's offer to extend nuclear arms treaty

The Kremlin today welcomed US President Donald Trump's statement on Russia's offer to extend the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the United States, saying it raises hope that the agreement will remain in force after it expires in February.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was willing to stick to nuclear arms limits under the 2010 New START arms reduction treaty for another year, and urged Washington to do the same. Asked about the proposal, Trump said on Sunday that it "sounds like a good idea."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed Trump's statement, noting that "it gives grounds for optimism that the United States will support President Putin's initiative."

Offering to extend the New START treaty, Putin said that extending it would be destabilizing and could encourage nuclear proliferation. He also argued that maintaining nuclear arms limits could be an important step in "creating an atmosphere conducive to substantive strategic dialogue with the United States."

The Russian leader confirmed the offer on Thursday, noting that Russia and the United States could use the one-year extension to work on a possible new pact to succeed New START.

Such an agreement would require complex negotiations on battlefield nuclear weapons and promising strategic weapons systems that Russia has developed, Putin said.

"We have not forgotten anything we planned, the work is underway and will yield results," he said at a forum of international foreign policy experts.

He mentioned long-standing US pressure to include China in any potential nuclear arms control pact, but stressed that it was up to Washington to try to persuade Beijing to do so. China has rejected the idea, arguing that its nuclear arsenals are far smaller than those of the US and Russia.

Putin also argued that the nuclear arsenals of NATO members Britain and France should be included in a potential agreement.

At the forum, Putin noted that some in the US oppose the extension of New START and "if they don't need it, we don't need it either. We are confident in our nuclear shield."

Putin's offer came at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the West, with growing concerns that the fighting in Ukraine could spread beyond its borders.

New START, signed by then-US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to a maximum of 1.550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The pact also requires on-site inspections to verify compliance with the agreement, although inspections were suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have not resumed since.

The agreement was originally scheduled to expire in 2021, but was extended for another five years.

Arms control advocates have long expressed concern about the impending expiration of that treaty and the lack of dialogue to secure a successor, warning of the possibility of a new nuclear arms race and an increased risk of nuclear conflict.