Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday offered to voluntarily maintain the limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons set under the 2010 New START treaty for a year after its expiry in February 2026, if the United States agreed to do the same.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Putin’s proposal sounded “pretty good,” but added that U.S. President Donald Trump would address the offer himself.
The New START accord, the last U.S.-Russia strategic nuclear arms control treaty, was extended once by Putin and former U.S. President Joe Biden in 2021. It limits each side to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 delivery systems, including missiles, submarines and bombers.
“Russia is prepared to continue adhering to the central numerical limits under the New START Treaty for one year after February 5, 2026,” Putin told a meeting of his Security Council. “Subsequently, based on an analysis of the situation, we will make a decision on whether to maintain these voluntary, self-imposed restrictions.”
Trump said in July he wanted to keep the treaty’s limits in place after it expires.
Russia and the United States hold the world’s largest nuclear arsenals, and arms control experts warn that the collapse of New START could spark a new arms race.
Putin said the proposal was in the interest of global non-proliferation and could open the door to dialogue with Washington. “This measure will only be viable if the United States acts in a similar manner, and does not take steps that undermine or violate the existing balance of deterrence,” he said.
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Moscow has previously refused to discuss arms control until overall U.S.-Russia ties, strained by the war in Ukraine, improved. Trump has pressed Putin to end the conflict, which Moscow says is part of wider security tensions.
Talks on renewing or overhauling New START have yet to begin, though Trump has spoken of wanting a broader deal that also includes China. Beijing has rejected participation.
Daryl Kimball, head of the U.S.-based Arms Control Association, called Putin’s move “a positive and welcome step” and urged Washington to respond, saying it could “help reduce the most immediate existential security threat facing the world.”
Putin said Russia would monitor U.S. nuclear and defence activities closely, citing plans to expand missile defences and deploy interceptors in space. “The practical implementation of such destabilising actions could nullify our efforts to maintain the status quo,” he said.
Konstantin Kosachyov, a senior Russian senator, said Putin was signalling readiness to discuss a new arms control framework. “I hope this signal will be heard and correctly interpreted,” he wrote on Telegram.
