MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. A new strategic arms limitation deal between Moscow and Washington to replace the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) is hardly probable due to the US aggressive policy of expanding its nuclear arsenal, an international security expert told TASS on Monday.
However, Russia and the United States may still reach agreements focused on minimizing the risk of nuclear escalation, said Alexander Chekov, a lecturer at the chair of international relations and foreign policy at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s MGIMO University.
"The statements by US President Donald Trump on his desire to achieve progress in nuclear arms control in relations with Russia are not new. Earlier, he expressed even more ambitious intentions, up to the idea of liquidating the entire nuclear arsenal of the United States and Russia. However, this rhetoric runs counter to Washington’s current policy in the sphere of strategic armaments," the expert pointed out.
In the expert’s estimate, this primarily refers to the launch "of the large-scale program of developing the Golden Dome global missile shield system designed to protect US territory against a missile threat."
"Simultaneously, the US is modernizing all the components of its nuclear triad: strategic bombers, missile-carrying submarines and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles," he added.
"The continued development of new types of tactical nuclear weapons, first of all, the SLCM-N seaborne nuclear cruise missile, comes as a significant factor. During Trump’s first tenure, the United States introduced the practice of outfitting its submarines with ballistic missiles with low-yield nuclear charges that potentially increased the risks of nuclear escalation," the expert said.
The United States also plans to deploy land-based intermediate-and shorter-range missiles in Asia and Europe, he said. "There is growing discussion around the need to expand the US arsenal to counter both Russia and China at the same time," he added.
Trump’s rationale
Speaking about the rationale of the Trump administration’s strategic course, the expert pointed out that "to all appearances, it is based on the same guidelines that laid the basis for the policy of the administration of President Ronald Reagan."
"In the 1980s, Reagan also stated his readiness for talks [with the Soviet Union] on the reduction of nuclear armaments and even favored their complete destruction. However, all this rhetoric took place amid the ongoing large-scale program of building up the American military might, the largest since World War Two," Chekov added.
As the expert pointed out, already "in the second half of the 1980s and the early 1990s, Moscow and Washington concluded a series of large agreements on the nuclear arms reduction." "However, most of the American establishment came to the conclusion that Moscow had agreed to such cuts primarily due to the US military pressure," he said.
Is new Russia-US treaty possible?
The expert noted that the current US policy of expanding its nuclear arsenal across multiple regions poses a serious threat to Russia.
For this reason, addressing what he called "the general crisis of bilateral relations" is essential before any meaningful progress can be made on a new strategic arms agreement. He recalled that Russia suspended its participation in the New START Treaty in February 2023 specifically in response to Washington’s military support for Kiev.
As the expert pointed out, "a possibility of Russian-US agreements on strategic arms cannot be completely ruled out and the parties may assume specific political commitments, for example, those aimed at information exchange in order to reduce nuclear risks."
"However, the prospect of a quick approval and conclusion of a new ‘big treaty’ to replace New START expiring in February 2026 can hardly be seen today," the expert pointed out.
Trump said earlier in response to a question from TASS that the United States was beginning to work with Russia on discussing the prospects of further nuclear arms cuts. The US president stressed that the expiry of the New START Treaty without its replacement by a new agreement would be "a big problem" for the world.