““We assume that this moratorium from our side, which was announced by the president, remains in place,” Lavrov said”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“We assume that this moratorium from our side, which was announced by the president, will remain, but only until the USA also does not exceed the mentioned limits,” Lavrov said in the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
The Kremlin said on February 5 that it regrets the expiration of the Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Weapons (SNO), which has been in effect between the United States and the Russian Federation for decades, but is still ready for negotiations.
Meanwhile, Axios reported, citing an unnamed US official, that Russia and the US are nearing an agreement on compliance with key terms of the SNO-3 treaty, which limits each side’s number of missiles, launchers and strategic nuclear warheads. In particular, this issue was discussed in Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of trilateral negotiations with Ukraine.
Read also: Putin’s “instrument of nuclear blackmail” – Ukraine reacts to the termination of the SNO-3 treaty
In September of last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to adhere to the main terms of the Treaty, which include limiting each country to 1,550 strike-ready nuclear warheads for another year.
US President Donald Trump responded warmly to the Kremlin’s public appeal, telling reporters it “sounds like a good idea”, but recent calls from Moscow to formalize the deal have been met with silence. The US State Department declined to comment on the status of the nuclear treaty, referring RFE/RL’s requests to the White House.
On February 5, Trump called for a new nuclear weapons treaty with Russia.
“Instead of continuing with the ‘New NPT’ (a poorly drafted agreement by the United States, which, among other things, is being flagrantly violated), we should have our nuclear experts work on a new, improved and modernized Treaty that can last for a long time,” he wrote on his Truth Social social network.