00:00The last Russia-U.S. nuclear arms control treaty known as News Start is due to expire on February 5th.
00:08Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed that the two sides stick to existing warhead limits for one more year to buy time to work out what comes next.
00:18On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned that time was running out.
00:23For the first time, Russia and the U.S., the two countries with the largest nuclear arsenals, will now have a basic document that limits and controls these arsenals.
00:39We believe this is very harmful for global strategic security.
00:47Our proposal remains on the table for the remaining days before the treaty expires.
00:53For the remaining days, our proposal remains on the table for the rest of the day.
00:58U.S. President Donald Trump has not formally responded to Putin's offer.
01:02He said in January that if it expires, it expires, and that the treaty should be replaced with a better one.
01:09News Start was signed in 2010 by U.S. President Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev,
01:15an ally of Vladimir Putin who served a single term as Russia's president.
01:19Finally, this day demonstrates the determination of the United States and Russia,
01:25the two nations that hold over 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons,
01:29to pursue responsible global leadership.
01:32It set limits on strategic nuclear weapons,
01:35the kind that each side would use to strike the opponent's vital political, military, and industrial centers
01:41in the event of a nuclear war.
01:43The number of deployed strategic warheads was capped at 1,550 on each side,
01:49with no more than 700 deployed ground- or submarine-launched missiles and bomber planes,
01:55and 800 launchers.
01:56The treaty text says it can only be extended once,
01:59and it already was in 2021 under former U.S. President Joe Biden.
02:04Now it's expiring, leading to Putin's push for a year-long informal agreement.
02:09If Moscow and Washington cease observing mutual limits on their long-range nuclear arsenals,
02:15it will mark the end of more than half a century of constraints on these weapons.
02:20Prokhor Tebin is head of the Center for Military and Economic Research
02:24at Moscow's Higher School of Economics.
02:27He says the current treaty is central to preventing nuclear conflict.
02:30The new start, like previous agreements in this sphere,
02:36is one of the most important and key instruments of arms control.
02:42Its aim is to ensure nuclear deterrence,
02:48strategic stability between the Russian Federation and the United States of America,
02:52and at the same time avoid uncontrolled arms race and some particular escalatory risks.
03:00Without a new agreement, each side would be free to increase its missile numbers
03:07and deploy hundreds more strategic warheads.
03:11However, experts say this poses some technical and logistical challenges
03:15and would not happen overnight.
03:17Arms control advocates are concerned about heightened nuclear risks,
03:21especially at a time of increased international tension
03:25because of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
03:27For the U.S., a key concern is China's growing arsenal.
03:31It now has an estimated 600 warheads,
03:34but the Pentagon estimates it will have more than 1,000 by 2030.
03:39Trump says he wants to pursue denuclearization with both Russia and China,
03:44but Beijing says it is unreasonable to expect it to join disarmament talks
03:49with two countries whose arsenals are far larger.
03:52Russia says the nuclear forces of NATO members Britain and France
03:56should also be up for negotiation, which those countries reject.
04:00Also, experts say a successor treaty would probably need to address
04:04other classes of nuclear weapons.
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