On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Kremlin is prepared to maintain limits on its deployed nuclear warheads and launchers for an additional year. This extension is contingent on the United States reciprocating the gesture, effectively preserving the critical caps established by the last remaining arms control agreement between Moscow and Washington.
During a meeting with his senior officials in the Kremlin, Putin explicitly stated Russia’s objective to “avoid provoking a further strategic arms race.”
“We believe this measure will only be effective if the United States responds in kind and refrains from actions that could destabilize or undermine the current balance of deterrence capabilities,” Putin articulated in televised remarks.
This announcement partly underscores the Russian leader’s desire to circumvent expensive new weapons development at a time when the state budget is already strained by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. It also coincides with indications that President Trump has expressed frustration with Putin regarding stalled efforts to resolve the Ukraine war and other bilateral discussions between Moscow and Washington.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, commonly known as New START, was initially signed in 2010 during a brief period of improved Moscow-Washington relations, often referred to as a “reset.” This treaty placed limits on the number of strategic warheads that both the United States and Russia could deploy, capping them at 1,550. It also set restrictions on the number of delivery systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines, and bombers.
Initially valid for a decade, the treaty was extended for an additional five years in January 2021. While it is slated to expire next February, its operations have not been fully functional.
A key requirement of the treaty mandates each party to permit 18 annual inspections of its nuclear sites by the other signatory. It also obliges both sides to exchange data and provide notifications concerning the movements of their nuclear forces.
However, both the United States and Russia mutually paused missile-site inspections during the Covid-19 pandemic due to health and safety concerns. Subsequently, in 2023, President Putin declared Russia’s suspension of its participation in New START, refusing to reinstate inspections and ceasing to provide data on its nuclear capabilities.
At the time, the United States deemed Russia’s suspension of the treaty as illegal.
In his recent remarks on Monday, Putin notably did not specify whether Russia would be open to resuming these inspections or sharing nuclear data.
With the conflict in Ukraine still raging, Moscow and Washington have yet to initiate talks on either renewing the current treaty or negotiating a new one. The Kremlin’s strategy has been to separate bilateral issues, such as arms control and economic ties, from discussions aimed at ending the war—an approach that the White House has consistently rejected.