MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. An American expert has said that it would be wise of Donald Trump after he takes the US presidential office and Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree on refusing from deploying more strategic nuclear warheads than stipulated by the New START treaty.
"Previously, Trump and his advisors refused to extend New START and, unlike Biden, they have shown little capacity or interest in a new bilateral arms control framework. Some Congressional Republicans may press Trump to withdraw from New START before it expires" in February 2026, Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of Arms Control Association, told TASS.
Nevertheless, in his words, "maintaining caps on strategic nuclear arsenals, even by way of an informal agreement between Trump and President Putin, would serve U.S. and global interests."
"Even if U.S.-Russian strategic stability talks resume, negotiating a new nuclear arms control framework will take time and involve many thorny issues, including understandings on strategic nuclear weapons, intermediate-range systems, sub-strategic nuclear weapons, and strategic missile defense. Because such a deal would be difficult to hammer out and take time, Trump and Putin would be wise to a simple, bilateral understanding promising that neither side shall increase the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads beyond the New START limits. This could forestall uncontrained strategic nuclear competition and provide mutual confidence as they seek to conclude a more comprehensive, durable framework to limit and reduce their deadly nuclear arsenals," he said, adding that such agreements between Russia and the United States will make it possible to influence other countries, including the United Kingdom, China, and France to make them stop building up their nuclear arsenals and agree to ban the production of material for such weapons.
About the 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 10 years, until 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 United States’ arsenals but also stockpiles of other NATO nuclear powers, namely the United Kingdom and France.