US President Donald Trump has expressed keenness to devise a new, “improved” nuclear agreement with Russia, instead of simply renewing the expired ‘New START treaty’ that capped nuclear warheads deployment for both countries.
“The New START treaty was badly negotiated and is being grossly violated,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, hours after the 2010 agreement had lapsed, adding, “We should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernised Treaty that can last long into the future.”
The President also rejected a one-year extension of the treaty, despite having earlier described the idea as “sounding good” to him.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), signed in 2010 by then-US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limited each side to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads on 700 delivery systems (missiles, aircraft and submarines).
The treaty received a single five-year extension in 2021, agreed upon by current Russia President Vladimir Putin and then-US President Joe Biden.
The treaty’s expiration coincided with the resumption of high-level military-to-military dialogue between Moscow and Washington, the US European Command announced, marking the first formal military-level engagement between the two sides since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.
Although Trump has not yet detailed what possible inclusions or new participants he prefers in a future treaty, White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said discussions with Russia would continue.
The US President has insisted, however, that China must be part of any new nuclear arrangement – an idea swiftly rejected by China’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday, saying it would not participate in such arms reduction talks.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia regrets the treaty’s expiration and would engage in negotiations if the US responds constructively to Putin’s earlier proposal.
Peskov affirmed Moscow will maintain its “responsible, thorough approach to stability when it comes to nuclear weapons” despite the lapsed treaty, and would be guided primarily by its national interests.
The US European Command said maintaining dialogue between militaries is an important factor in global stability and peace, which can only be achieved through “strength”, and provides “a means for increased transparency and de-escalation”.
