MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. A vacuum has formed following the New START Treaty’s expiration, and Russia is ready for any possible developments, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
"As you may well know, the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty expired yesterday, and such a vacuum has formed," Lavrov said following his talks with Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Feridun Sinirlioglu and the organization’s current chairman, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in Moscow.
"Our stance has been set out in detail in our ministry’s special statement and we proceed from the fact that, in principle, Russia is ready for any possible scenario regarding this issue," he added.
Russia’s top diplomat also said that Moscow still "favors a dialogue" regarding this issue.
"We will keep waiting to see how the United States is ready for the reciprocal step," Lavrov said.
New START, the last international legal document restricting the deployment of nuclear weapons, expired on February 5 due to Washington's refusal to extend it. US President Donald Trump said that he expected to make a better agreement, which would also cover China.
Moscow suggested extending the treaty’s validity for another year after the document expired but received no official response from Washington to the initiative. As for China, Moscow believes that it’s up to Beijing to make a decision and will respect any choice China makes.
However, Russia stressed that if New START’s scope was expanded at some point, it should include nuclear powers such as the UK and France, US allies and NATO members, whose nuclear capabilities are not covered by any strategic stability agreement.
New START Treaty
The Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) was signed in 2010 and entered into force on February 5, 2011.
The document stipulates that seven years after its entry into effect each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and strategic bombers, as well as no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers. The treaty was signed for a term of ten years, until February 5, 2021, with a possibility of a further extension upon the parties’ mutual consent.
In February 2021, Moscow and Washington extended the treaty, described by the Russian authorities as the golden standard in the sphere of disarmament, for the maximal possible five years.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21, 2023 that Russia was suspending its participation in New START but was not withdrawing from it. The president stressed that before returning to the discussion of the extension of the treaty, the Russian side wanted to understand how New START will take into account not only the US’ arsenals but also stockpiles of other NATO nuclear powers, namely the UK and France.
The treaty expired on February 5, 2026. Putin announced in September 2025 at a meeting with the Russian Security Council that Moscow is ready to continue adhering to the quantitative restrictions under New START for another year after its expiration. However, he noted that this measure would only be viable if Washington acted in a similar manner. Responding to a TASS question on October 5, 2025, US President Donald Trump called Putin’s proposal a good idea. However, the US has not taken any practical action in response to Russia's proposals.