- The new starting treaty will expire on February 5, 2026.
- Putin says that the step is viable only if we follow in a similar way.
- Warns against the movements that undermine the balance of deterrence.
Russia offered on Monday to continue staying with nuclear eye limits agreed with the United States once a key treaty expires, but only for a year and if Washington did the same.
The new starting treaty, signed in 2010, limits the number of nuclear eyelets that each side can be deployed and is the last important arrangement for proliferation of weapons between the two nuclear powers.
It is scheduled to expire on February 5, 2026, and none of the parties agreed an extension.
“Russia is prepared to continue to adhere to the central quantitative limitations of the new starting treaty for a year after February 5, 2026,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin at a televised meeting.
He said the measure was necessary to prevent “a strategic arms race” with Washington.
“We believe that this measure will only be viable if the United States acts similarly and does not take measures that undermine or interrupt the existing balance of deterrent potentials,” Putin added.
Russia froze its participation in a new beginning in 2023, but has voluntarily followed the numerical limits in the treaty.
The agreement restricts on both sides to a maximum of 1,550 strategic nuclear eyes deployed each, a reduction of almost 30 percent from the anterior limit established in 2002.
