Trump calls Putin's proposal on nuclear weapons control "a good idea"

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday 5 October that Russian leader Vladimir Putin's proposal to voluntarily maintain limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons "sounds like a good idea".

Source: Reuters, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Last month, Putin suggested voluntarily keeping the limits on the size of the world's two largest nuclear arsenals, set under the New START treaty, which expires in February, if the US does the same.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Trump told reporters outside the White House when asked about Putin's proposal.

Background:

• Last week, Vasily Nebenzya, Russian Ambassador to the UN, said Moscow was still awaiting a response from Trump on Putin's proposal.
• Any agreement to extend nuclear weapons limits would contrast with rising tensions between the US and Russia following the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska in mid-August, given reports of Russian drones entering NATO airspace.
• In a video posted on Sunday 5 October, Putin warned that any US decision to supply Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep inside Russia would damage Moscow's relations with Washington.
• The New START treaty is an agreement signed by Russia and the US in 2010 to control so-called strategic offensive arms, meaning strategic nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. The treaty has been extended several times, most recently in 2020.
• In February 2023, Putin announced the "suspension" of Russia's participation in the New START treaty – a move not provided for under the treaty itself but which occurred against the backdrop of Moscow's nuclear pressure on the West. Nevertheless, Russia remains a party to the treaty.

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