The Kremlin said on Monday that it welcomed President Trump’s positive comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to extend New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the US and Russia, which is set to expire in February 2026.
The New START treaty limits the number of nuclear warheads and delivery systems the US and Russia can deploy, and Putin has said Russia would abide by those limits for another year after it expires if the US reciprocates. During that time, the US and Russia could negotiate a replacement treaty.
When asked about Putin’s offer, President Trump said on Sunday that it “sounds like a good idea.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response on Monday that Russia “welcomes this statement and believes that it gives us reason to be optimistic that the US supports Putin’s initiative.”
However, Peskov said that Russia still has not received any word from the US about the offer through formal diplomatic channels.
The talk about New START comes amid soaring tensions between the US and Russia over Ukraine, as the Trump administration is considering providing the Ukrainian military with Tomahawk missiles, which are nuclear-capable and have a range of over 1,000 miles.
Land-based missiles with the range of the Tomahawks were previously banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, another major piece of arms control between the US and Russia. The US pulled out of the INF in 2019 and quickly began developing missile systems that were prohibited by the treaty.
Russia recently announced that it is no longer bound by a self-imposed moratorium on the deployment of INF missiles in response to the US deploying one of the new missile systems, known as the Typhon, which can fire Tomahawk missiles.
