Chuck Darwin<p>The last and only remaining nuclear arms deal between the U.S. and Russia<br>—the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, otherwise known as New START<br>—is set to expire on February 5, 2026. </p><p>The deal capped the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the two nations could deploy, as well as the number of land and water vehicles used to deliver them.</p><p>Legitimate international disarmament would, of course, be a good thing. </p><p>But whether or not Putin would actually follow through on diminishing his nation’s nuclear stockpiles is unclear. </p><p>For decades, Russia has spent millions working to replace and upgrade its strategic and non-strategic nuclear systems.</p><p>As of early 2024, Russia possessed a total of 5,580 nuclear warheads, <br>the most of any country in the world, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. </p><p>The nonprofit organization argued that the war in Ukraine had drastically depleted Russia’s “conventional forces,” pushing it to deepen its reliance on nuclear weapons for its national defense systems.</p><p>“Russia’s nuclear modernization programs<br>—combined with frequent explicit nuclear threats against other countries in the context of its large conventional war in Ukraine<br>—contribute to uncertainty about the country’s long-term intentions and have generated a growing international debate about the nature of its nuclear strategy,” read a Bulletin’s column.</p><p>The global security group further argued that the U.S.’s ballistic missile system could stand in the way of Russia’s eventual nuclear disarmament, <br>claiming that the missile system “constitutes a real future risk to the credibility of Russia’s retaliatory capability.”</p><p>Some of Trump’s domestic decisions prior to entering the White House were reportedly “thrilling” to Russian mouthpieces. </p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Margarita" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Margarita</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Simonyan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Simonyan</span></a>, the editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, mocked American politicians in December for their stupidity while claiming that some of Trump’s more unqualified choices for his cabinet<br>—such as one-time DOGE co-chair nominee Vivek <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ramaswamy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ramaswamy</span></a> and director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi <a href="https://c.im/tags/Gabbard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gabbard</span></a><br>—are friendly faces that bring the Kremlin “lots of joy.”<br><a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/190605/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-nuclear-weapons" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">newrepublic.com/post/190605/do</span><span class="invisible">nald-trump-vladimir-putin-nuclear-weapons</span></a></p>