Regarding the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), Lavrov stressed that Russia’s new initiative, proposed by President Vladimir Putin on Monday, expresses readiness to comply with the treaty’s core quantitative limits for one additional year after its expiration on February 5, 2026.

He said the move is intended to help maintain strategic stability, provided that the US takes the same approach and refrains from steps that would undermine the existing deterrence balance.