GENEVA (AN) — Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to immediately renew a nuclear weapons treaty between his country and the United States without any preconditions or more discussions, well ahead of its expiration in Feb. 2021.
His offer on Thursday would sustain the decade-long U.S.-Russia nuclear pact known as the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, that took effect in Feb. 2011. It replaced the START treaty, which was in effect from 1994 to 2009. With an extensive verification program, both sides met a 2018 deadline to reduce their strategic nuclear forces to no more than 1,550 warheads on 700 deployed missiles or bombers.
