Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said Moscow would voluntarily continue to respect the limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons set by the 2010 New START treaty for one year after it expires in February 2026 — provided the United States reciprocates.
The New START accord, which caps each side at 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 delivery vehicles including missiles, submarines and bombers, is the last remaining arms control agreement between Washington and Moscow. It allowed for only one five-year extension, which Putin and then-President Joe Biden agreed to in 2021.
Speaking at a meeting of his Security Council, Putin said the proposal was aimed at supporting global non-proliferation efforts and could spur dialogue with Washington on arms control. “This measure will only be viable if the United States acts in a similar manner, and does not take steps that undermine or violate the existing balance of deterrence capabilities,” he warned.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Putin’s proposal “pretty good” but said President Donald Trump would address the offer himself. Trump said in July he wanted to maintain the New START limits after the treaty expires.
Russia and the U.S. hold by far the largest nuclear arsenals in the world, and experts fear the end of New START could trigger a new arms race. Moscow’s offer marks a shift in policy; until now it has insisted that arms control talks could only resume if broader relations, strained by stark differences over the war in Ukraine, improved.
Putin has also been under pressure from Trump to agree to end the war in Ukraine — a conflict Moscow says is part of a wider set of security issues that have pushed East-West tensions to Cold War levels.
So far, no negotiations on renewing or overhauling the treaty have begun. Trump has floated the idea of a new arms control deal including China, but Beijing has rejected such participation.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, called Putin’s move “a positive and welcome” step and urged Washington to reciprocate, saying the two leaders could “help reduce the most immediate existential security threat facing the world.”
Putin also signaled that Russia would closely monitor U.S. nuclear weapons and defense activities, especially plans to strengthen missile defenses and potentially deploy interceptors in space. “The practical implementation of such destabilising actions could nullify our efforts to maintain the status quo in the field of START,” he said. “We will respond accordingly.”
Konstantin Kosachyov, a senior Russian senator, said Putin was sending a message to Washington that he is ready to negotiate a new arms control treaty. “I hope this signal will be heard and correctly interpreted,” he wrote on Telegram.
