Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not say why he believed the United States would respect the limits set out in New START.
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Published February 11, 2026
Russia said it would abide by nuclear weapons limits set out in an expired arms control treaty with the United States as long as the United States continued to take similar steps.
The New START agreement expired earlier this month, leaving the world’s two largest nuclear powers with no binding hold on their strategic weapons for the first time in more than half a century, raising fears of a new global arms race.
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In a speech to parliament on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was in no hurry to develop and deploy more weapons, retracting his foreign minister’s comments last week that he believed Russia was no longer bound by the terms of the treaty.
“This temporary suspension announced by the president remains in force, but it is based on the fact that it remains in force as long as the United States does not exceed the outlined limits,” Lavrov said.
“The United States is in no hurry to waive these restrictions and there is reason to believe they will be observed for the time being,” he said, without explaining the basis for that assumption.
US President Donald Trump has rejected an offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin to voluntarily abide by the restrictions set out in New START for another year, saying he wants a “new, improved and modernized” treaty rather than an extension of the old one.
Russia has also indicated its intention to conclude new arms control agreements.
The US government has pointed out that China is increasing its nuclear arsenal and is calling for China to participate in the talks.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China’s nuclear arsenal has been increasing by about 100 new warheads a year since 2023, faster than any other country.
However, the Chinese government has refused to negotiate with the United States and Russia. The reason for this is that Russia only has an estimated 600 nuclear warheads, compared to about 4,000 for Russia and the United States each.
With the treaty expiring, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said that China will not participate in bilateral disarmament negotiations.
The Russian government insists that if China joins the new deal, U.S. nuclear allies Britain and France, which have 290 and 225 nuclear warheads respectively, should do the same.
New START, first signed in Prague in 2010 by then-US and Russian presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, limits the number of deployed nuclear weapons on both sides to 1,550, a nearly 30% decrease from the previous limit set in 2002.
Deployed weapons or warheads are in active service and ready for immediate use, as opposed to those in storage or awaiting dismantling.
Both countries were also allowed to conduct on-site inspections of each other’s nuclear weapons, but these were suspended during the coronavirus pandemic and have not resumed since.
Russia has refused treaty-based inspections of its nuclear facilities in 2023 amid heightened tensions with the United States over the nearly four-year war in Ukraine.
However, it said it would continue to adhere to the established quantitative limits.
