With the US-Russia nuclear agreement expiring today, US President Donald Trump has reiterated calls for a new, stronger agreement instead of extending the current treaty known as New START.
"Instead of extending NEW START (a poorly negotiated agreement by the US that is being flagrantly violated, among other things) we should be tasking our nuclear experts to work on a new, improved and modernized agreement that can last long into the future," Trump wrote today on his social media account, Truth Social.
The expiration of this treaty removes the last remaining restrictions on the world's two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than half a century.
Trump has previously said he would like to maintain restrictions on nuclear weapons but would like to include China in a potential new agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to extend the duration of restrictions under the New START nuclear disarmament treaty remains in force, but Moscow has not yet received a response from Washington, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today, the Russian TASS news agency reported.
On September 22, 2025, at a meeting with the Russian Security Council, Putin confirmed Moscow's willingness to adhere to the quantitative limits of the agreement for another year after its expiration in February of this year.
Arms control experts say the end of the New START treaty could be the basis for a nuclear arms race without limits.
Trump did not comment on Putin's statement that he was willing to stick to the limits of the agreement for another year if the Americans did the same. He indicated that he wanted China to be part of the new agreement, which China rejected.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday that Trump made it clear that in order to have arms control in the 21st century, it is impossible to do something that does not include China because of its huge and rapidly growing stockpiles.
Putin discussed the expiration of the agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday, noting that the US had not responded to his proposal to extend the agreement and saying that Russia would act in a balanced and responsible manner based on a detailed analysis of the security situation, Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov reported.
Peskov said today that Moscow views the expiration of the treaty "negatively" and regrets it. He said Russia would maintain its "responsible and fundamental approach to stability when it comes to nuclear weapons," adding that it would of course be guided above all by national interests.
He also added that if Russia receives constructive answers, it will certainly engage in dialogue.
"With the termination of the agreement, Moscow remains ready to take decisive military-technical measures to respond to potential additional threats to national security," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry added that at the same time, the country remains open to seeking political and diplomatic ways to comprehensively stabilize the strategic situation.
As New START expires, the United States and Russia agreed today to re-establish high-level military-to-military dialogue after senior officials from both sides met in Abu Dhabi, the US European Command said. Those ties were suspended in 2021 and relations between Moscow and Washington had become increasingly strained before Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
New START was the last remaining agreement in a long series of agreements between Moscow and Washington to limit their nuclear arsenals, which began with the SALT I treaty in 1972.
The New START treaty limits the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles, certain other missiles and nuclear warheads that Russia and the United States can possess. The treaty expires on February 5.
This agreement on the reduction of strategic offensive arms between the United States and the Russian Federation was signed on April 8, 2010 in Prague, and entered into force on February 5, 2011.
The New START treaty provides for a halving of the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers and a new inspection and verification regime. It does not limit the number of operationally inactive nuclear warheads that can be stored, which is measured in the thousands.
On February 21, 2023, Russia suspended its participation in New START, but did not withdraw from the agreement and explained that it would continue to adhere to the numerical limits therein.
New START limits the number of deployed missiles and bombers of the US and Russia to 700 each, deployed warheads (MIR and bombers) to 1.550, and deployed and non-deployed launch systems (missile tubes and bombers) to 800.
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