Putin offers Trump one-year extension to nuclear weapons treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday offered to voluntarily maintain the limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons set out in the last arms control treaty between the two powers once it expires next year if the U.S. does the same.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Putin’s proposal sounded “pretty good,” but that U.S. President Donald Trump, who has in the past expressed concern about the treaty’s fate, would address the offer himself.

The 2010 New START accord, which expires in February, caps the size of the world’s two biggest nuclear arsenals. Many experts fear its expiry could fuel an arms race as both sides boost strategic weapons deployments.

The original treaty could only be extended once by five years, which Putin and former U.S. President Joe Biden agree