Putin makes nuclear offer to Trump

Vladimir Putin has announced that he is willing to last the last year of arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow that limits the number of nuclear weapons each side has if Donald Trump does the same.

The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, which limits the number of strategic nuclear heads the United States and Russia can decide, as well as the deployment of land-based missiles and bombers and submarines to transport them, will expire on February 5, 2026.

With a little more than four months before it expires, disagreements over war in Ukraine imply that Russia and the US have not started talks on the renewal or revision of the treaty, writes Skynews.

Putin said at a meeting of Russia's Security Council that he was ready to extend START by one year in the interest of global non-proliferation and help promote dialogue with Washington about the treaty's successor if Trump was ready to do the same.

“Russia is prepared to continue holding the central numeric borders under the new START Treaty for a year after February 5, 2026”, the Russian president said.

Then, based on an analysis of the situation, we will make a decision whether to maintain these voluntary restrictions of self-enforcement”, he added.

“We believe that this measure will be applicable only if the United States acts in a similar way and does not take steps that harm or breach the existing balance of preventative capabilities”. /Periscope/