Russia doubts possibility of new US nuclear pact amid ‘ruined’ bilateral ties as START Treaty nears end

Russia thinks chances are fading for agreeing on a new pact to replace the last nuclear arms control treaty with the US, which expires early next year, a top arms control official said.

The main obstacle to any agreement is the state of US-Russian ties, which are “in ruins,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in an interview published with the state-run Tass news service on Friday.

“There are no grounds for the full-scale resumption of the New START treaty under the current circumstances,” Ryabkov said, according to Tass. “Considering that the treaty is reaching the end of its life cycle in approximately eight months, any discussion about the realism of such a scenario is becoming increasingly meaningless.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2023 suspended participation in the New START nuclear treaty though Moscow pledged to continue complying with its terms until the accord’s expiration. Russia in April said it continues to respect the pact’s limits on nuclear arsenals, which restricts each side to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads.

Then-US President Joe Biden extended the treaty by five years to 2026 as one of his first acts upon taking office in 2021 shortly before it was due to expire. Putin had pressed President Donald Trump during his first term without success to agree to a deal.

The end of the treaty would mean the US loses access to inspections and monitoring data about the number of deployed Russian nuclear warheads, as well as the land- and sea-based vehicles used to launch them.

The potential loss of the nuclear arms control mechanism comes amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year, which has sparked the worst tensions with the West in decades. Trump’s efforts to resolve the conflict have met with no success so far, though his administration has started talks with Moscow on restoring diplomatic operations after contacts were all but cut off following the start of the war.