Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not say why he believed the United States would respect the limits set out in New START.

Russia has said it will abide by the limits on its nuclear weapons set out in the Nuclear Weapons Treaty. expired arms control treaties Compared to the United States, as long as Washington continues to do so.

New Strategic Arms Reduction Agreement Expired earlier this monthFor the first time in more than half a century, the world’s two largest nuclear-armed states have lost control of their strategic arsenals, raising fears of a new global arms race.

Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was in no rush to start developing and fielding more weapons, contrary to comments made by the Russian Foreign Ministry last week that Russia believed it was no longer bound by the terms of the treaty.

“Our starting point is that this suspension announced by our president remains valid, provided that the United States does not exceed the prescribed limits,” Lavrov said.

“We have reason to believe that the United States is in no rush to abandon these restrictions and will abide by them for the foreseeable future,” he said, without explaining the basis for that assumption.

US President Donald Trump has rejected an offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin to voluntarily comply with New START for one year, saying he wants a “new, improved and modernized” treaty rather than an extension of the old one.

Russia also expressed hope for a new arms control agreement.

Washington is pushing China to join the talks, pointing to its growing nuclear arsenal.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China’s nuclear arsenal has grown faster than any other country since 2023, with about 100 new warheads added every year.

However, Beijing refuses to negotiate with the United States and Russia because it says it possesses only a fraction of the number of U.S. and Russian warheads – an estimated 600, compared with about 4,000 Russian and American warheads each.

After the treaty expires, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said China would not participate in bilateral disarmament negotiations.

Moscow said that if China joins the new deal, so should U.S. nuclear allies Britain and France, which have 290 and 225 warheads respectively.

New START, first signed in Prague in 2010 by then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev of the United States and Russia, limits each side’s nuclear arsenal to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads – a nearly 30% reduction from the limit set in 2002.

A deployed weapon or warhead is one that is active and rapidly available for use, rather than one that is stored or awaiting dismantling.

It also allows each side to conduct on-site inspections of the other’s nuclear arsenal, although those inspections were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and have not resumed since.

In 2023, Russia refused to inspect its nuclear facilities under the treaty as tensions with the United States heightened over Ukraine’s nearly four-year war.

But it said it remained committed to adhering to the prescribed volume limits.