Putin says Russia will stick to nuclear arms limits for 1 year

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow will adhere to nuclear arms limits for one more year after the last nuclear pact with the U.S. States expires.

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.

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,” he 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.”

Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START treaty, at Prague Castle, Czech Republic, in 2010. Getty Images filePutin 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.