Missile proposal: Russia is ready to comply with START-3 restrictions for another year

Russia is ready to adhere to the central restrictions of the START Treaty for another year after its expiration in February 2026, Vladimir Putin said at an operational meeting with members of the Security Council. According to the president, Russia is ready to take this step in order not to provoke a strategic arms race. At the same time, Putin acknowledged that the situation in the sphere of strategic stability continues to deteriorate. The White House has already noted that Vladimir Putin's proposal sounds "pretty good," and Trump intends to personally speak on this topic in the near future. The Russian leader's statement is a signal of readiness to preserve the START Treaty and work out new agreements, experts say. However, further dialogue depends on Washington's willingness to take into account the arsenals of its NATO allies, i.e. France and Great Britain. Whether the positions of Moscow and Washington will converge is in the Izvestia article.

Cooperation between Russia and the United States in the framework of the START Treaty

Russia is ready to comply with key restrictions under the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START or START-3) for another year, Vladimir Putin said at an operational meeting with members of the Security Council. This document expires in February 2026.

— After February 5, 2026, Russia is ready to continue to adhere to the central quantitative restrictions under the START Treaty for one year. In the future, based on the analysis of the situation, we will make a definite decision on the subsequent maintenance of these voluntary self—restrictions," the head of state said.

The President recalled that with the expiration of the Treaty, the last international agreement on direct restrictions on nuclear missile capabilities will disappear.

"A complete rejection of the legacy of this agreement would be an erroneous and short—sighted step from many points of view, which, in our opinion, would negatively affect the achievement of the goals of the Treaty on the Non—Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," the president said.

According to the Russian leader, it is necessary to try to maintain the status quo, which exists precisely thanks to the START Treaty, in order not to provoke a strategic arms race. The Russian Federation is confident in the reliability and effectiveness of its deterrence forces, while it is ready to respond to any strategic threats through the use of military-technical measures.

The President instructed relevant agencies to closely monitor plans to build up strategic components in the US missile defense system, because the effectiveness of Moscow's proposal depends on Washington.

"We believe that this measure will become viable only if the United States acts in a similar way and does not take steps that undermine or violate the existing balance of deterrence potentials," the Russian leader added.

Donald Trump got acquainted with Vladimir Putin's proposal and promised to speak on this topic soon, Washington reported. The Russian leadership's proposal sounds "pretty good," and the US president will "personally speak out" on this topic, White House spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt said.

At the beginning of 2021, the parties extended the agreement until February 5, 2026. It was assumed that during this time, Russia and the United States would develop a document or package of documents in the field of strategic stability, which would replace the START Treaty. Until February 2022, Moscow and Washington actually held relevant consultations. However, against the background of the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, at the initiative of the United States, this dialogue was interrupted.

As a result, Russia suspended its participation in it precisely because of the extremely hostile policy of the Joe Biden administration. As explained in the Russian Foreign Ministry, it was a forced decision made against the background of anti-Russian sanctions. Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin stressed that this step does not mean a complete withdrawal from the agreement, and that Russia, in order to resume participation, must understand how the cumulative NATO strike arsenal will be taken into account.

However, in 2025, after Donald Trump came to the White House, the Russian side declared the need to restore dialogue on strategic stability. Vladimir Putin's current statement means a concrete signal of readiness to start this dialogue, Vasily Klimov, a researcher at the IMEMO RAS Center for International Security, tells Izvestia.

— Vladimir Putin's statement means a signal of readiness, taking into account the demands voiced in 2023, to preserve this most important agreement in the field of nuclear arms control and to begin a dialogue on developing agreements that will replace START-3. The resumption of mutual inspections and notifications is not expected, meaning unilateral restrictive measures in the expectation that the US leadership will follow suit," the expert said.

Degradation in the sphere of strategic stability

In general, the situation in the sphere of strategic stability continues to deteriorate, the Russian leader stressed at a meeting of the Security Council.

"As a result of the previously destructive steps taken by Western countries, the foundation of constructive relations and practical interaction between nuclear—weapon states has been significantly undermined," he said.

With its destructive actions, the West is trying to gain absolute, overwhelming superiority. Against this background, the system of agreements between the two countries on the control of nuclear missile and strategic defensive weapons has been almost completely dismantled, the President stressed.

After the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, many international treaties ceased to operate. For example, in November 2023, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russia had finally withdrawn from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty). Signed back in the 1990s, this document limited the number of military equipment in Europe in five categories (tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, combat aircraft and helicopters). Moscow suspended its participation in 2007, demanding that NATO ratify a new version of the treaty, but they did not agree to this.

Also in 2023, Vladimir Putin announced the expediency of Russia's deratization of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Moscow explained this by saying that the United States has not come close to ratifying the agreement for more than 20 years, so the Russian Federation considers it necessary to equalize its status with the United States. At the same time, Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia would not resume nuclear testing unless the United States did it first.

On April 18, 2025, Russia denounced the 2007 agreement on the Barents Sea with Norway, Finland and Sweden.

With the arrival of Trump, the dialogue between Moscow and Washington has stabilized a bit. After the talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska, the American leader stressed that he had raised the issue of limiting nuclear weapons at the meeting. Earlier, Trump personally stated that the expiration of the START Treaty would be a problem for the whole world.

And at the end of August, Lieutenant General Andrew Jebara, Deputy chief of Staff of the US Air Force for Strategic Deterrence and nuclear integration, said that Trump would like to conclude a new agreement with Russia instead of the START Treaty, but there are some conditions for this.

Nevertheless, there is still no reason to talk about a rapprochement between the positions of the Russian Federation and the United States in the field of strategic stability, says Prokhor Tebin, director of the Center for Military-Economic Research at the Higher School of Economics.

— Very tense relations between Russia and the West remain. Speaking specifically about the United States, there are certain hopes for an improvement in relations. But they have not yet led to a qualitative improvement in the situation. It is impossible to artificially isolate the topic of strategic stability, as Washington wanted under Biden. These issues should be considered in the general context of international and regional security," the expert stressed.

The militarization of the EU is actively underway, the pumping of weapons to American allies, the United States and NATO maintain superiority in conventional weapons, and the alliance is expanding, hostile activities against Russia continue, including military support for Ukraine, Tebin recalled.

In his opinion, there are certain obstacles to the development of a dialogue on strategic stability. Russian concerns are probably related to the strategic potentials of France and the United Kingdom, while the United States is currently most concerned about China's growing strategic potential.

In March 2025, Donald Trump announced that he wanted to discuss the renunciation of nuclear weapons with Moscow and Beijing. Beijing reacted sharply to this proposal, calling it "unreasonable." The Chinese Foreign Ministry stressed that the nuclear capabilities of the United States and China "are at completely different levels." In addition, back in 2017, Trump even called the START Treaty a "one-sided deal," arguing that the document was more beneficial to Moscow than Washington.

As long as the United States does not agree to take into account the nuclear missile capabilities of Great Britain and France, and not just China, and does not recognize the relationship between strategic offensive and defensive weapons, it is incorrect to talk about a rapprochement in the field of strategic stability, emphasizes Vasily Klimov. It was these requirements that Russia outlined in 2023, when it announced the "suspension" of its participation in the START-3 Treaty, the expert concluded.