Sergei Lavrov (AP image)
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday said that Moscow will continue to observe the limits set under the New START nuclear arms control treaty, even after its expiry, as long as the United States adheres to the same restrictions.The New START treaty formally expired on February 5, leaving the world’s two largest nuclear powers without any binding restrictions on their nuclear arsenals for the first time in more than 50 years. The development has raised concerns globally about the possibility of an unchecked nuclear arms race.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow was ready to continue adhering to the treaty’s limits for another year if the United States agreed to do the same. However, US President Donald Trump has insisted that China should be included in any future agreement, a proposal Beijing has rejected.Speaking to Russia’s lower house of parliament, Lavrov said that Moscow would maintain its commitment to the treaty’s caps despite the absence of a formal extension.“The moratorium declared by the president will remain as long as the US doesn’t exceed these limits,” Lavrov told lawmakers. “We will act in a responsible and balanced way on the basis of analysis of the US military policies.”He added that “we have reason to believe that the United States is in no hurry to abandon these limits and that they will be observed for the foreseeable future.”“We will closely monitor how things are actually unfolding,” Lavrov said. “If our American colleagues’ intention to maintain some kind of cooperation on this is confirmed, we will work actively on a new agreement and consider the issues that have remained outside strategic stability agreements.”Lavrov’s remarks followed a report by Axios claiming that Russian and US negotiators discussed a possible informal understanding to continue observing the treaty’s limits for at least six months during talks held last week in Abu Dhabi.Commenting on the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that any extension would have to be formal. “It’s hard to imagine any informal extension in this sphere,” he said.At the same time, Peskov confirmed that future nuclear arms control was discussed during meetings in Abu Dhabi, where delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States held two days of talks focused on a potential peace settlement in Ukraine.“There is an understanding, and they talked about it in Abu Dhabi, that both parties will take responsible positions and both parties realize the need to start talks on the issue as soon as possible,” Peskov said.The New START treaty, signed in 2010 by then-US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, was the last in a series of agreements between the two countries aimed at limiting nuclear weapons, beginning with the SALT I pact in 1972.Under New START, each country was limited to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and no more than 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The treaty was originally due to expire in 2021 but was extended for five years.The agreement also allowed for on-site inspections to ensure compliance. However, inspections were halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were never resumed. In February 2023, Putin announced the suspension of Russia’s participation in the treaty, citing tensions with the United States and NATO over the Ukraine conflict. Still, the Kremlin maintained that Russia would continue to respect the treaty’s numerical limits.In September, Putin proposed extending adherence to the treaty’s caps for another year to allow time to negotiate a replacement agreement.Despite the treaty’s expiration, both countries agreed on February 5 to restore high-level military-to-military communication following discussions in Abu Dhabi. The direct link had been suspended in 2021 amid worsening relations before Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
