START agreement: Putin says Russia will adhere to nuclear treaty for ‘one more year’

NEW DELHI: Russian president Vladimir Putin connected Monday said that Moscow volition adhere to the atomic warhead statement with US for 1 much twelvemonth arsenic it sets to expire successful February adjacent year.Putin, successful a televised meeting, said that the termination of the 2010 New START would person antagonistic consequences for planetary stability."Russia is prepared to proceed adhering to the cardinal quantitative limitations of the New START Treaty for 1 twelvemonth aft February 5, 2026," Putin said.Speaking astatine a gathering with members of Russia’s Security Council, helium said that Russia would expect the US to travel Moscow’s illustration and besides instrumentality to the treaty’s limits.The New START, signed by then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, limits each state to nary much than 1,550 deployed atomic warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. Its looming expiration and the deficiency of dialog connected anchoring a successor woody person disquieted arms power advocates.The statement envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance, but they person been dormant since 2020.In February 2023, Putin suspended Moscow’s information successful the treaty, saying Russia could not let US inspections of its atomic sites astatine a clip erstwhile Washington and its NATO allies person openly declared Moscow’s decision successful Ukraine arsenic their goal.Moscow has emphsised, however, that it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether and would proceed to respect the caps connected atomic weapons the pact set.