MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow will adhere to nuclear arms limits for one more year under the last remaining nuclear pact with the United States that expires in February, and he urged Washington to follow suit.
Mr. Putin said that the termination of the 2010 New START would have negative consequences for global stability and could fuel proliferation of nuclear weapons.
“To avoid provoking a further strategic arms race and to ensure an acceptable level of predictability and restraint, we believe it is justified to try to maintain the status quo established by the New START Treaty during the current, rather turbulent period,” Mr. Putin said in televised remarks. “Therefore, Russia is prepared to keep adhering to the central quantitative limitations of the New START Treaty for one year after Feb. 5, 2026.”
He added that “based on our analysis of the situation, we will subsequently make a decision on maintaining these voluntary self-restraints.”
He emphasized that Russia expected the U.S. to follow its example and also stick to the treaty’s limits.
“We believe this measure will only be viable if the United States acts in a similar manner and does not take steps that undermine or disrupt the existing balance of deterrence potentials,” he said.
U.S. President Trump has said that he and Mr. Putin talked about nuclear weapons during their meeting to discuss ending Russia’s war on Ukraine in Alaska last month. Asked to comment in July on a looming expiration of the New START, Mr. Trump noted “that is a big problem for the world, when you take off nuclear restrictions.”
Mr. Putin instructed Russian agencies to “closely monitor relevant American activities, particularly with regard to the strategic offensive arms arsenal,” with a particular emphasis on plans to “expand the strategic components of the U.S. missile defense system, including preparations for the deployment of interceptors in space.”
Mr. Putin’s statement comes at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the West, fueling concerns that the fighting in Ukraine could spread as European countries rebuked Russia for what they said were provocations. The incidents have included Russian drones landing on Polish soil and Estonia accusing Russian fighter jets of intruding into its airspace.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on social media that Russia was testing NATO’s political and military response and aiming to reduce Western support for Ukraine by compelling countries to redirect resources toward the defense of alliance countries.
Calibrating how to respond to Russia was not easy, Mr. Rinkevics said Sunday. Russia was doing just enough not to cross a red line, but things could still spiral, he added.
On Monday, Russia and Ukraine swapped accusations of deadly drone strikes on civilian areas of their countries as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy anticipated “a very intense week” of diplomacy at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where the Security Council was expected to discuss the more than three-year war.
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