Russia offered on Monday to continue abiding by the nuclear warhead limits agreed upon with the United States once a key treaty expires, but only for one year and on the condition that Washington does the same.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010, is the last major arms control agreement between the two nuclear powers. It restricts the number of nuclear warheads each side can deploy. The treaty is set to expire on February 5, 2026, and neither side has yet agreed to an extension.
In a televised meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated, “Russia is prepared to continue adhering to the central quantitative limitations of the New START Treaty for one year after February 5, 2026.” He said this measure was necessary to prevent “a strategic arms race” with Washington.
Putin added, “We believe that this measure will only be viable if the United States acts in a similar manner and does not take steps that undermine or disrupt the existing balance of deterrence potentials.”
Russia froze its participation in New START in 2023 but has continued to voluntarily follow the treaty’s numerical limits. The agreement restricts both sides to a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads each, which is a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002.
