Trump says Putin's nuclear arms proposal ‘sounds like a good idea’
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Sunday (Oct 5) said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to voluntarily maintain limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons “sounds like a good idea”.
Putin last month proposed keeping voluntary caps on the size of the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals, as set by the 2010 New START treaty, if Washington agreed to do the same. The pact is due to expire in February.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House when asked about Putin’s proposal.
RUSSIA AWAITING RESPONSE
Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said last week that Moscow was still waiting for a formal response from Washington to Putin’s offer to maintain the voluntary limits on deployed strategic weapons once the treaty lapses.
Any new understanding would mark a rare moment of cooperation amid mounting strains between the two countries since Trump and Putin met in Alaska in mid-August, as reports surfaced of Russian drones straying into NATO airspace.
PUTIN WARNS AGAINST MISSILE SUPPLIES
In a video released Sunday, Putin warned that any US decision to supply long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for deep strikes inside Russia would “destroy” relations between Moscow and Washington.
US Vice President JD Vance said last month that the US was considering Kyiv’s request for such missiles, but no final decision had been made.
“This will lead to the destruction of our relations, or at least the positive trends that have emerged,” Putin said in remarks carried by Russian state television.
One US official and three other sources told Reuters that the Trump administration’s desire to send Tomahawks to Ukraine may not be viable because most are already allocated for naval use.
Trump, who has expressed frustration that Putin has not moved to end the war in Ukraine, was not asked on Sunday about possible missile deliveries.
COLD WAR-ERA ARSENALS IN FOCUS
Trump is touring the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush off the coast of Virginia and is scheduled to give a speech later aboard the USS Harry S Truman.
Tomahawk cruise missiles have a range of about 2,500km, which would put the Kremlin and much of European Russia within striking distance if Ukraine were to receive them.
