Overview
- Kremlin officials say Moscow’s proposal to informally observe New START’s numerical limits for one year remains available through Feb. 5, but report no formal U.S. response.
- Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says Russia is prepared for a world with no arms‑control limits, calling Washington’s silence a de facto answer.
- The treaty’s end would erase the last legal ceiling on deployed strategic warheads and delivery systems, with inspections and data exchanges already halted since Russia’s 2023 suspension.
- President Donald Trump has signaled he may let the pact lapse while seeking a broader deal that includes China, which Beijing rejects as unreasonable given its smaller arsenal.
- Analysts and senior figures, including Barack Obama, warn the loss of limits and transparency could spur uploads of reserve warheads and a three‑way arms buildup, as Russia also presses to count British and French forces in any future framework.