Russia foreign minister – Artifex.News

Russia says it will stick to New START’s nuclear arms limits as long as U.S. does

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 13:32:00 +0000

In this photo released by The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gestures as he delivers his speech at the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, on February 11, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Moscow will observe the limits of the last nuclear arms pact with the United States that expired last week as long as it sees that Washington is doing the same, Russia’s top diplomat said Wednesday (February 11, 2026).

The New START treaty expired on February 5, 2026, leaving no restrictions on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century and fuelling fears of an unconstrained nuclear arms race.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last year declared his readiness to stick to the treaty’s limits for another year if Washington followed suit, but U.S. President Donald Trump has argued that he wants China to be a part of a new pact — something Beijing has rejected.

Also Read | New START’s expiry risks pushing the world to unchecked nuclear rivalry

Speaking on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) to the parliament’s lower house, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that even though the U.S. hasn’t responded to Putin’s offer, Russia will respect New START’s caps for as long as it sees that the U.S. observes them too.

“The moratorium declared by the president will remain as long as the U.S. doesn’t exceed these limits,” Mr. Lavrov told lawmakers. “We will act in a responsible and balanced way on the basis of analysis of the U.S. military policies.”

He added that “we have reason to believe that the United States is in no hurry to abandon these limits and that they will be observed for the foreseeable future.”

WATCH | Explained: What the end of the New START treaty means for the world

“We will closely monitor how things are actually unfolding,” Mr. Lavrov said. “If our American colleagues’ intention to maintain some kind of cooperation on this is confirmed, we will work actively on a new agreement and consider the issues that have remained outside strategic stability agreements.”

Mr. Lavrov’s statement followed a report by Axios claiming Russian and U.S. negotiators discussed a possible informal deal to observe the pact’s limits for at least six months during talks last week in Abu Dhabi. Asked to comment on the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday (February 6, 2026) that any such extension could only be formal, adding that “it’s hard to imagine any informal extension in this sphere.”

At the same time, Mr. Peskov confirmed that Russian and U.S. negotiators discussed future nuclear arms control in Abu Dhabi where delegations from Moscow, Kyiv and Washington held two days of talks on a peace settlement in Ukraine.

Also Read | Trump urges new nuclear treaty after Russia agreement ends

“There is an understanding, and they talked about it in Abu Dhabi, that both parties will take responsible positions and both parties realize the need to start talks on the issue as soon as possible,” Mr. Peskov said.

New START, signed in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, was the last of a long series of agreements between Moscow and Washington to limit their nuclear arsenals, starting with SALT I in 1972.

New START restricted each side to no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads on no more than 700 missiles and bombers deployed and ready for use. It was originally set to expire in 2021 but was extended for five years. The pact envisioned sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance, although they stopped in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never resumed.

EDITORIAL | New beginnings: On the end of START as opportunity

In February 2023, Mr. Putin suspended Moscow’s participation, saying Russia couldn’t allow U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites at a time when Washington and its NATO allies openly declared they wanted Moscow’s defeat in Ukraine. But the Kremlin also emphasised it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether, pledging to respect its caps on nuclear weapons.

In September, Mr. Putin offered to keep the New START’s limits for another year to buy time for both sides to negotiate a successor agreement.

Even as New START expired, the U.S. and Russia agreed on February 5 to re-establish high-level, military-to-military dialogue following a meeting between senior officials from both sides in Abu Dhabi, the U.S. military command in Europe said. The link was suspended in 2021 as relations grew increasingly strained before Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Published – February 11, 2026 06:45 pm IST

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Russia-France Ties Hit New Low After Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s Arrest: Moscow

admin — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 12:16:43 +0000

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has French as well as Russian nationality. (File)

Paris:

Relations between Moscow and Paris have reached a nadir following the arrest of Russian-born Telegram boss Pavel Durov, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, after the tech billionaire’s detention was extended until Wednesday.

Durov, who has French as well as Russian nationality, was arrested near Paris over the weekend as part of an investigation into crimes related to images of child sex abuse, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform, French prosecutors said on Monday.

It remains unclear if he knew about the threat of arrest in France. Durov’s French lawyer did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Durov’s arrest has plunged Moscow-Paris ties to their lowest level, Lavrov said on Tuesday, capping months of deteriorating relations between the two nations.

French authorities accused Russia of trying to destabilise it ahead of the Paris Olympics in response to its more hawkish stance on the Ukraine war – claims Russia has denied.

Durov’s detention was extended by 48 hours late on Monday, a spokesperson for the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday. After that, prosecutors will either need to charge or release him. Should he face charges, his flight risk status is a factor judges have to include in their assessment of possible pretrial detention, according to French law.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday that Russia was ready to provide Durov with all necessary assistance given his Russian citizenship, but that his French citizenship complicated the situation. Durov also holds a UAE passport.

“The charges are very serious indeed,” said Peskov. “They require a no less serious basis of evidence. Otherwise they will be a direct attempt to limit freedom of communication.”

FREE SPEECH DEBATE

Durov’s arrest has sparked a debate about the limits of free speech online, with X-owner Elon Musk saying the right to expression in Europe was under attack. It also underlines a movement by governments around the world to take a tougher line on policing illegal activity that flourishes on some platforms.

Brazil’s supreme court briefly suspended Telegram nationwide in 2022 over its failure to comply with judicial orders.

With close to 1 billion users, Telegram is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It presents itself as a haven for free speech, but is also widely used by far-right, anti-vax and conspiracist movements, as well as political dissidents.

The platform has become crucial to battlefield communications in the war in Ukraine and is used by governments and soldiers on both sides of the war to share war-related news and propaganda.

Without providing evidence, Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, earlier said the United States, through France, was attempting to exert control over Telegram.

“Telegram is one of the few and at the same time the largest Internet platforms over which the United States has no influence,” Volodin said in a post.

“On the eve of the U.S. presidential election, it is important for (President Joe) Biden to take Telegram under control.”

The White House has yet to comment on Durov’s arrest.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is known to be an avid user of the app, has said that the arrest was “in no way a political decision”.

Russia has previously tried, and failed, to block Telegram and fined the company several times for failing to delete what it deemed illegal content.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Russia says Kyiv’s statements on peace talks contradictory

admin — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 18:14:53 +0000

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attended the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, on July 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday he “does not listen” to what he called Ukraine’s contradictory statements on peace talks.

Mr. Lavrov spoke after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited China for talks this week. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy then said Beijing sent a “clear signal” it supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Answering questions from Russian journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Laos capital, Mr. Lavrov referred dismissively to Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Kuleba’s comments.

Mr. Kuleba, in an interview with Ukraine’s TSN channel Friday about his visit to Beijing, said Kyiv could not be forced to negotiate and that China, which has sought to paint itself as a mediator after Russia’s invasion, respected Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Mr. Kuleba “is saying this not for the first time and has sometimes said completely opposite things,” Mr. Lavrov said.

“Not long ago they were talking about negotiations. Zelenskyy talked of readiness to finally sit at a table with Russian representatives. I don’t listen to them, to be honest,” he added.

Mr. Lavrov said that during talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Vientiane, they discussed what was said during Kuleba’s visit and Russians “sensed that the Chinese position remains unchanged”.

Mr. Lavrov said Beijing insists the format of any peace talks must be “acceptable to all sides”.

Mr. Zelenskyy said this month that Russia should be represented at a second peace summit after Russia was not invited to one in June in Switzerland and China did not attend because of this.

Mr. Lavrov also referred to Donald Trump’s possible position on Ukraine if elected U.S. President, after ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote about this in a Wall Street Journal article this week.

“About Trump, I’ve heard that he proposed instead of just giving Ukraine money to allocate $500 billion on lend-lease conditions,” Mr. Lavrov said, calling this “the approach of a businessman”.

“I can’t comment on numerous ideas, that aren’t really serious,” he added.

“When there is something serious proposed, of course, as the president said we are always ready for an honest conversation, taking into account the realities that exist now”, the minister said.

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