MOSCOW, Russia – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that strategic nuclear arms control talks should begin between Russia and the United States.
But he stressed the need for Britain and France to join these negotiations at a later stage.
Peskov’s comments follow a Russian offer to the United States this month to voluntarily maintain for a year restrictions on deployed strategic nuclear weapons, under the New START Treaty.
This will be after it expires next year.
White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal as “very good”.
But she indicated that the final decision rests with US President Donald Trump.
He, in turn, announced his desire to launch broader nuclear disarmament talks that include Russia and China.
Peskov said in statements to TASS: “Of course, we have to start talks at the bilateral level, as the New START Treaty is essentially a bilateral document. But in the long term, the British and French arsenals cannot remain far from this process, as they are part of the broader framework of European security and global strategic stability.
The New Start Treaty was signed between former US President Barack Obama and his then Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in 2010.
It took effect the following year, then was extended in 2021 for an additional five years after Joe Biden assumed the presidency.
In 2023, Moscow suspended its participation in the treaty, but confirmed its continued commitment to restrictions on the number of nuclear warheads.
The two countries have the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world, with New Start setting a ceiling of 1,550 published strategic nuclear warheads for each party.
In addition to 700 launch vehicles, including missiles, submarines, and bomber aircraft.
Britain and France have much smaller arsenals, each with between 250 and 300 nuclear warheads.
