Dialogues on the future of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (initiated) should begin between Moscow and Washington, but the issues of nuclear weapons in London and Paris inevitably need to be resolved, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.
“Of course, negotiations should begin at the bilateral level. After all, the starting treaties are bilateral documents. However, in the future we cannot abstract ourselves from these arsenals.
The New Treaty of Start was signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitri Medvedev in 2010 and began the following year. It was extended for five years in 2021 until February 2026.
The start of III, or new start, sets a limit on the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles, certain other missiles, and nuclear warheads in Russia and the US.
Putin halted Russia’s participation in 2023 in protest of US support for Ukraine, but he did not close the door and said that Moscow would continue to comply with the treaty restrictions on the deployed nuclear weapons. Recently, he suggested that these restrictions remain for another year. This is a proposal welcomed by the White House.
In February 2023, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow had not withdrawn, but that Moscow had suspended participation in the agreement.
Before returning to treaty dialogue, he said Russia wanted to understand how weapons from other NATO nuclear powers (British and France) could be explained.
Moscow and Washington have shown their intention to continue to voluntarily observe the central quantitative limitations of the treaty.
On September 22, Putin told a Security Council meeting that Russia is ready to comply with these restrictions for a year after the February 2026 treaty expires. However, he emphasized that this is only possible if Washington did the same thing.
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