Trump Rejects Putin’s Offer to Extend New START Nuclear Limits

The last nuclear arms cap is gone — and Washington says it wants a bigger, tougher deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to voluntarily extend limits on strategic nuclear weapons deployments after the expiration of the New START treaty.

In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump dismissed the idea of a one-year extension, calling New START a “badly negotiated deal” and urging instead the negotiation of a “new, improved and modernized” arms control agreement that could last longer and include additional powers.

Putin had proposed that both countries continue to observe New START’s caps — limiting each side to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads on 700 delivery systems — for one year after the treaty’s expiry. The pact, signed in 2010, was the last remaining arms control agreement between the world’s two largest nuclear powers and expired after its sole five-year extension, agreed in 2021.

Arms control advocates warn that the treaty’s end removes key inspection and transparency measures, raising the risk of miscalculation and a renewed nuclear arms race. Trump, however, argued that Russia had already undermined the agreement by suspending on-site inspections in 2023, a move Moscow justified by citing U.S. support for Ukraine.

The Kremlin said it remains open to dialogue if Washington responds constructively, while the United Nations urged both sides to restore arms control mechanisms. China called the treaty’s expiration regrettable and encouraged renewed U.S.-Russia talks, though it has declined to join trilateral negotiations.

With no replacement agreement in place, analysts warn the U.S. and Russia could each deploy hundreds of additional warheads within a few years, further destabilizing global nuclear security.