00:00U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected an offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin
00:06to voluntarily extend the new START Nuclear Arms Control Treaty.
00:11The agreement, which caps the number of deployed strategic warheads at 1,550 on each side,
00:18was signed in 2010 and expired Thursday.
00:22It allowed for only a single extension, which Putin and former U.S. President Joe Biden
00:27agreed to for five years in 2021.
00:30White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt read Trump's social media posts to reporters.
00:36Rather than extend new START, a badly negotiated deal by the United States,
00:40which I will add was renegotiated under former President Barack Obama,
00:45aside from everything else, is being grossly violated.
00:48The president wants to have our nuclear experts work on a new, improved, and modernized treaty
00:53that can last long into the future.
00:54And that's what the United States will continue to discuss with the Russians.
00:59Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was still ready to engage in dialogue with the U.S.
01:05if Washington responded constructively to Putin's proposal.
01:09Stefan Dajarek, the spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary-General, urged the two sides to keep working on a deal.
01:16This is a very dangerous period, not to have a framework dealing with these nuclear weapons.
01:27We hope very much that the talks will lead, will be positive and will be fruitful.
01:32Trump has said he wants to replace new START with a better deal, bringing in China.
01:37But Beijing has declined negotiations with Moscow and Washington.
01:41It has a fraction of their warhead numbers, an estimated 600, compared to around 4,000 each for the U.S. and Russia.
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