Putin wants to extend arms pact with U.S.

Russia Friday proposed extending a soon-to-expire nuclear arms treaty for one year without any changes, a move seen in Washington as a tactic to delay action on the treaty until after the U.S. presidential election.

The Trump administration swiftly dismissed Moscow’s proposal as a “non-starter.”

The Russian offer came just two days after the Kremlin rejected as “nonsense” what the Trump administration hailed as a tentative deal to salvage the pact, the New START treaty, the last remaining major arms control pact between the two biggest nuclear powers.

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, who had previously pushed hard for a five-year extension of the accord, made the surprise proposal during a videoconference with his Kremlin Security Council, saying it would be “extremely sad if the treaty ceased to exist.”

While boasting that “we clearly have new weapons systems that the American side does not have, at least not yet,” Putin cast his offer as a gesture of goodwill toward “all states of the world that are interested in maintaining strategic stability.” A oneyear extension, he added, would allow for “meaningful negotiations” to continue up to and possibly beyond early February, when the current treaty expires.

It would also mean Russia could well be negotiating with a new U.S. president less hostile to the terms of the original Obama-era treaty than President Donald Trump has been.

The offer drew a cool reception in Washington. Within hours, the Trump administration issued a statement from Robert C. O’brien, national security adviser, rejecting the offer from Putin.

“President Putin’s response today to extend New START without freezing nuclear warheads is a non-starter,” O’brien said. “The United States is serious about arms control that will keep the entire world safe. We hope that Russia will reevaluate its position before a costly arms race ensues.”

O’brien repeated the administration’s proposal to extend New START for one year, “in exchange for Russia and the United States capping all nuclear warheads during that period.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, was involved in the negotiation of the original 2010 agreement and has indicated that, if elected, he would agree to a straightforward, five-year extension and work later to expand its scope.