Photo: Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin teased a potential deal on nuclear arms control while crediting President Donald Trump's administration for being "energetic" and "sincere" in its approach to end the war in Ukraine ahead of a summit in Alaska scheduled for Friday (August 15).
Putin told senior officials that the meeting between Russia and the United States could “create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, as well as in Europe, and in the world as a whole" during a briefing on Thursday (August 14) via CNN.
A potential deal could happen if both sides can “reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons,” according to Putin. The U.S. and Russia had previously signed the New START pact in 2011 capping strategic nuclear weapons deployments, which is set to expire on February 5, 2026.
The treaty limits both countries to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.
New START has, however, been tested since Russia invaded Ukraine, as well as Putin's public claims that his country would no longer comply with its requirements in February. as well as Putin repeatedly showing that he cannot be trusted and Trump growing increasingly frustrated with him publicly, having accused him of "tapping" their conversations.
“We get a lot of bulls–t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said last month via the New York Post. “He’s very nice all of the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”