Putin invents new tactic to get closer to US for war concessions - ISW

“Putin is attempting to pressure the Trump administration to engage in arms control talks to facilitate US-Russian rapprochement and extract concessions from the United States about the war in Ukraine, as ISW forecasted Russia would in August 2025,” the statement says.

ISW recalls that Putin previously predicted that the US implementing his “New START” initiative, combined with other steps to normalize relations, could create an atmosphere “conducive to substantive strategic dialogue” with the United States.

“ISW continues to assess that the Kremlin is dangling the prospect of bilateral arms control talks in front of the United States to secure Russia’s desired demands in Ukraine and deflect from Russia’s responsibility for the lack of progress in Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations,” the Institute for the Study of War noted.

ISW also emphasized that Russia is attempting to provoke escalation in recent months, including by exiting the INF Treaty in August 2025, to force the US administration to begin arms control talks.

Treaty on reduction of strategic offensive arms

Recently, Putin said that Russia is ready to comply with quantitative limits on nuclear weapons under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which it suspended in 2023.

Moscow stated its willingness to adhere to the key provisions of New START after February 5, 2026, when the treaty’s term expires.

At the same time, Putin said that Russia would continue to comply with the treaty for another year, provided the US does the same.

Furthermore, Putin expressed confidence in the “reliability” of Russian nuclear weapons and threatened the West with a military response in case of any threat.

RBC-Ukraine also reported that Russia and the US offered China nuclear disarmament, but Beijing reacted angrily to the proposal.