Russia says again that it will stick to limits on nuclear weapons in expired New START treaty, if U.S. does

Russia will continue to observe the limits set under the recently-expired New START nuclear arms reduction treaty if the United States does the same, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.

“We proceed from the fact that this moratorium, on our part, which was announced by our president, will remain in effect, but only as long as the United States does not exceed the aforementioned limits,” Lavrov said, addressing the lower house of Russia’s parliament. 

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) was signed in 2010 between the U.S. and Russia. It limited the number of strategic nuclear warheads that both countries could have deployed to 1,550, and included verification measures such as on-site inspections and data exchanges designed to ensure compliance.

The pact was originally set to expire in February 2021, but it was extended for five years by former President Joe Biden, keeping it in force until February 2026. 

President Vladimir Putin said last year that Russia was prepared to continue abiding by the treaty’s core limits if the U.S. did the same, and Lavrov’s latest remarks reaffirm that position in the wake of the pact’s expiry. 

According to The Associated Press, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said last week that Russia would “retain its responsible, thorough approach to stability when it comes to nuclear weapons. And, of course, it will be guided primarily by its national interests.”

Debate continues in the U.S. over the future of strategic arms control. 

President Trump has previously argued that any nuclear agreement should include China, which has expanded its nuclear arsenal in recent years. Beijing has repeatedly rejected calls to join trilateral nuclear arms control talks, however, noting that its weapons stockpile is significantly smaller than those of the U.S. and Russia. 

A White House official told CBS News in January that the president would decide a path forward on nuclear arms control “which he will clarify on his own timeline.”

Last week, the U.S. and Russia agreed to reestablish formal, high-level military communications that were suspended in late 2021, prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

But there has been no indication of progress toward a new agreement to regulate the arsenals of the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.

Mr. Trump directed the Pentagon in October to resume testing of nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other countries’ tests, a move which could end a U.S. pause that stretches back to the end of the Cold War.

“Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” the president wrote on Truth Social, using his administration’s preferred term for the Defense Department. “That process will begin immediately.”

Days later, Putin instructed his government to submit proposals on the possible resumption of nuclear weapons testing in Russia. 

During a meeting with his Security Council, Putin said Russia had adhered to the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear test explosions, but he said, “if the United States or any other state party to the Treaty was to conduct such tests, Russia would be under obligation to take reciprocal measures.”