Kremlin says Trump yet to respond to Russia’s New START Treaty proposal
Russia will respond to potential transfer of Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine ‘in an appropriate manner,’ says Kremlin spokesman

ISTANBUL
The Kremlin on Thursday said that US President Donald Trump has yet to respond to Russia’s proposal on voluntarily maintaining the central limits under a key arms control treaty expiring in early 2026.
Late September, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Moscow’s readiness to adhere to the central quantitative limits under the New START Treaty between Moscow and Washington for a year after it expires on Feb. 6, 2026.
He further expressed that Russia believes this measure will be viable only if the US “acts in a similar manner and does not take steps that undermine or violate the existing balance of deterrence potentials.”
In a conversation with journalists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that contacts between Moscow and Washington are ongoing, but that there has been no reaction to the proposal as of yet.
“After all, my colleague in Washington announced that Trump would personally respond to this initiative. But so far, there's been no response from the American side on this matter,” Peskov expressed.
The New START Treaty entered into force in February 2011 and limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads deployed by Moscow and Washington to a maximum of 1,550 each.
The agreement also limits the number of launchers and nuclear-capable heavy bombers to 800 and creates a mutual inspection and notification regime.
The two countries extended the agreement to February 2026 shortly after former US President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. Putin declared that Moscow would suspend its participation in the treaty in February 2023.
Peskov further said Russia will respond to the potential transfer of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine by the US “in an appropriate manner,” and that the sharing of intelligence data between Kyiv and Washington is “nothing new.”
He noted that while these are only media reports, experience has shown these reports “don't just happen out of nowhere.”
“But it's clear that intelligence is being shared, or rather, not exchanged, but supplied, and that all NATO and US infrastructure is being used to collect and transmit intelligence to Ukraine,” he added.
- Transnistria
The Kremlin spokesman also reacted to remarks by Moldovan President Maia Sandu on the need to remove Russian forces from the country’s breakaway Transnistria region, saying “one can only regret such a position.”
He also argued that the recent parliamentary election in Moldova demonstrated that about half of the country’s population supported improving relations with Russia.
On Sept. 30, Sandu spoke about the reintegration of the country’s regions, saying that in the case of Transnistria, they need to “find a solution to remove the Russian army from our territory peacefully,” after which there will be a gradual integration process.
“But we also need substantial support from our partners for the economic costs of reintegration, because they are high and the budget of the Republic of Moldova alone cannot cope with it. So, substantial support is needed and we have started these discussions,” she added during an interview with the Moldova 1 national TV channel.
The breakaway Transnistria region, which is internationally recognized as part of Moldova, has been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since the early 1990s.
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