START agreement: Putin says Russia will adhere to nuclear arms treaty for ‘one more year’; calls on US to follow suit

NEW DELHI: Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday said that Moscow will adhere to the nuclear warhead agreement with US for one more year as it sets to expire in February next year.Putin, in a televised meeting, said that the termination of the 2010 New START would have negative consequences for global stability."Russia is prepared to continue adhering to the central quantitative limitations of the New START Treaty for one year after February 5, 2026," Putin said.Speaking at a meeting with members of Russia’s Security Council, he said that Russia would expect the US to follow Moscow’s example and also stick to the treaty’s limits.The New START, signed by then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. Its looming expiration and the lack of dialogue on anchoring a successor deal have worried arms control advocates.The agreement envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance, but they have been dormant since 2020.In February 2023, Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in the treaty, saying Russia could not allow US inspections of its nuclear sites at a time when Washington and its NATO allies have openly declared Moscow’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal.Moscow has emphsised, however, that it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether and would continue to respect the caps on nuclear weapons the treaty set.