U.S. President Donald Trump has welcomed a Russian proposal to voluntarily maintain limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons.
Trump, speaking to reporters as he departed the White House on Oct. 5, said the offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin “sounds like a good idea.”
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START agreement, signed in 2010 and implemented the following year, limits each side to 700 deployed long-range missiles and bombers, 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads, and 800 total launchers.
The treaty also places restrictions on Russia’s most advanced long-range weapons, including the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle and the Sarmat intercontinental missile, which can reach U.S. territory in about half an hour….