Russia’s stance on agreement with US on reduction of strategic offensive arms unchanged: Shoigu. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin expressed Moscow’s willingness to start dialogue on multilateral agreements on disarmament and arms control. US President Donald Trump has expressed his willingness to hold a tripartite summit with Russia and China on the issue. The Russia-US New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) expires on February 5, 2026 and until recently no discussions have been held regarding the prospects for further dialogue on strategic weapons, Russian media reported. The US President has proposed that all three nations can reduce their military spendings to half. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently supported the proposal and said both the US and Russia could reduce the defence budget by 50 per cent, and China can join later, if it wants. The agreement relates, among other things, to security under the agreement on strategic nuclear forces, which will expire in a year. This issue relates to the issue of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
