INTERVIEW: Russia waiting for US response to proposal on New START limits — diplomat

UNITED NATIONS, December 31. /TASS/. Moscow expects the administration of US President Donald Trump to respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative on preserving the limitations imposed by the New START treaty in the format of voluntary self-restrictions after the document expires in February 2026, a senior Russian diplomat said.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Dmitry Polyansky, who earlier held the post of the first deputy permanent representative to the UN, has told TASS in an interview that arms control remains "one of the spheres where Donald Trump’s new policies have not yet led to the review of old paradigms."

"For years, if not decades, the Americans have been consistently destroying the earlier groundwork which took so much effort to create. As a result, the only treaty that we currently have is the New START, which expires in February 2026," he said. "We expect the Americans to eventually respond to Vladimir Putin’s initiative to maintain numerical limits under the New START in the form of voluntary self-restrictions."

Polyansky has also expressed serious concern by the Golden Dome project of the United States, which includes space-based sensors, and the US refusal to negotiate on space security.

"This is a very dangerous path, and we have been urging our American colleagues to walk away from it," the diplomat said.

He also emphasized the problem of low-orbit satellite communication systems, whose uncontrolled use creates risks for developing countries. He expressed hope that Moscow’s signals will be heard, and the two nations will start to jointly search for solutions that would prevent the militarization of space.

President Vladimir Putin announced at a Russian Security Council meeting on September 22 that Moscow was ready to maintain compliance with the quantitative restrictions outlined in the treaty for another year after the document expires next February. However, he stressed that the measure would be valid only if Washington did the same.