Trump Wants To Maintain Nuclear Weapons Placement Limits With Russia

US President Donald Trump/PHOTO via Instagram @whitehouse

JAKARTA - President of the United States (US) Donald Trump wants to maintain the limits on the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons for the US and Russia stipulated in the 2010 New START agreement, which ended in February.

"That's not the agreement you want to end. We're starting to work on it," Trump said.

This is the first time since taking office, Trump said he wanted to maintain the treaty limits regarding the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons when the agreement expires on February 5.

"When nuclear restrictions are lifted, that's a big deal," Trump said.

The New Strategic Weapons Reduction Agreement, or New START, is the last remaining nuclear weapons reduction agreement between the world's largest nuclear states.

The agreement limits Russia and the US to place no more than 1,550 strategic warheads on 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and bombers.

Former US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin extended the agreement for five years in 2021, but, as written, the pact cannot be extended further.

Trump opposed the extension during his first term of office, instead calling for a new agreement that included China, which later rejected the proposal.

Trump has been a supporter of nuclear arms control. In February, he said he wanted to discuss with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping about limiting their nuclear arsenal.

US-Russian relations are at their lowest point in more than 60 years, partly triggered by Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons in his fight against Ukraine and the development of an exotic new weapon system.

With the end of the New START Agreement, the US and Russia could start deploying more strategic warheads and each of them could find it more difficult to measure the intentions of other parties, supporters of arms control warned.