Putin says Russia will stick to nuclear arms limits for one more year
President says Moscow will honor New START caps for another year after February expiration, urging Washington to do the same.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia will adhere to the nuclear-arms limits set by the 2010 New START treaty for one more year after the last remaining pact with the United States expires in February 2026. Speaking at a meeting with members of Russia’s Security Council, Putin warned that the termination of the pact would have negative consequences for global stability. The New START caps limit each side to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. Putin said Moscow expects the United States to follow Moscow’s example and also stick to the treaty’s limits. The looming expiration and the lack of dialogue on anchoring a successor deal have worried arms-control advocates. The agreement envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance, but those inspections have been dormant since 2020. In February 2023, Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the treaty, arguing that the United States and its NATO allies have openly declared Moscow’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal. Moscow has emphasized that it is not withdrawing from the pact and will continue to respect the caps on nuclear weapons the treaty set.
The remarks come as concerns about arms-control stability persist without a confirmed successor framework. The New START treaty, signed by then-President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, has remained the sole bilateral mechanism limiting both nations’ deployed strategic forces for over a decade. The pact’s verification regime, including on-site inspections, has been dormant since 2020, and the last year has seen limited dialogue on how to anchor a replacement agreement.
Analysts say that the provisional extension buys time but leaves unresolved questions about verification, verification access, and enforcement once any interim period ends. While Moscow has stressed that it is not withdrawing from the pact, the lack of a clear path to a successor framework adds uncertainty to the broader arms-control landscape amid ongoing tensions over Ukraine and other security issues. Observers note that the next steps will depend heavily on whether Washington and Moscow can re-engage in substantive talks and agree on a verifiable framework that can withstand political strains and risk of miscalculation in a volatile strategic environment.