Kremlin Warns of Extremely Dangerous Nuclear Arms Control Vacuum

By Staff, Agencies

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that Russia and the US urgently need to resume dialogue on strategic stability and arms control.

“The absence of a treaty-based framework in these areas is creating a very dangerous situation,” he added.

The New START treaty, the last remaining bilateral agreement limiting US and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals, expired in February without an extension or replacement.

Signed in 2010 and extended in 2021, the treaty capped each side at 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 deployed delivery systems, while providing for transparency and on-site verification measures.

Following the treaty’s expiration, Russia suggested maintaining caps on warheads for another year if Washington reciprocated, but the initiative went unanswered, according to Moscow.

Russia is convinced that talks must resume soon, Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. “This is an extremely important issue,” he said. “For the first time in a long while, the world has been left without this treaty-based legal framework.” He described the situation as “extremely dangerous.”

Peskov urged an early start to negotiations, warning that they would inevitably be complex and lengthy.

The Trump administration has long insisted that any future nuclear arms control agreement should include China as well. In February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington will press for trilateral talks with Beijing and Moscow.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump said he is open to discussing nuclear disarmament at a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China.

“We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization,” he told reporters. “If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it. I’m sure we’d talk about other things like trade too.”

Peskov said Russia cannot disregard the nuclear arsenals of European NATO members, particularly Britain and France, in future strategic stability talks with the US.

Earlier this year, President Emmanuel Macron announced a “forward deterrence” initiative that could see French nuclear weapons deployed to other European countries. In March, he said France would no longer disclose the size of its arsenal, arguing that “to be free, we have to be feared.” He also outlined plans to increase its nuclear arsenal, which is currently just under 300 warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [SIPRI].

Moscow has warned that the strategy could backfire, saying it cannot “ignore an obvious buildup of the nuclear component of NATO’s joint potential.”