US, Russia restart military dialogue as treaty ends

What happened

The U.S. on Thursday said it had agreed with Moscow to restart high-level military-to-military dialogue that was suspended shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The thawing of bilateral ties grew out of talks in Abu Dhabi on ending the war. Thursday also marked the end of New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia.

Who said what

The U.S. and Russian militaries have maintained an emergency deconfliction line throughout Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but “consistent military-to-military contact” is an “important factor in global stability and peace,” U.S. European Command said in a statement. The “resumption of regular dialogue” will also “enable Moscow to hold talks with Washington on security topics outside of the Ukraine conflict,” The Washington Post said.

The lapse of New START removes “last major guardrail constraining the nuclear arsenals of the two countries that together hold some 85% of the world’s warheads,” Axios said. U.S. and Russian envoys in Abu Dhabi had been “closing in on a deal to continue to observe” the treaty, but President Donald Trump cast “doubt on any formal extension.” Instead of “extending” New START, he said Thursday on social media, we should “work on a new, improved and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future.”

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What next?

Trump’s post “said nothing about Vladimir Putin’s offer to hold American and Russian arsenals at current levels temporarily, leaving open the possibility of a renewed arms race,” The New York Times said.