US President Donald Trump has said that Washington should pursue a “new, improved and modernised” nuclear arms control agreement rather than extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia.
“Rather than extend ‘New START, a badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated, we should have our nuclear experts work on a new, improved, and modernised treaty that can last long into the future,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.
His remarks came as the New START Treaty expired, ending the last remaining legally binding agreement limiting American and Russian strategic nuclear forces. Russia also said Wednesday that parties to the treaty are no longer bound by its obligations.
Moscow said it sought to extend the treaty, noting that President Vladimir Putin proposed on September 22 to keep existing caps on strategic weapons for at least one year after the treaty’s termination.
The Foreign Ministry said no formal US response was received through bilateral channels.
The treaty was signed on April 8, 2010, in Prague and entered into force on February 5, 2011, replacing the 1991 START I Treaty, according to the US-based Arms Control Association.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that any nuclear deal with Russia needs to include China.
Trump, in his first term, also looked ready to let New START lapse as he insisted on including China.
Joe Biden agreed with Russia to extend New START for five years after he defeated Trump in the 2020 election, but tensions between the two countries later deteriorated over the Ukraine war.
The treaty, signed by then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart Barack Obama, limited each side's nuclear arsenal to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads, a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002.
