www.armscontrol.org
“a dialogue between Moscow and Washington could lead to negotiations to maintain or lower current limits on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals before the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) expires in February 2026.”
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“In the absence of such new limits, Russia and the United States could significantly increase the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads by uploading additional warheads onto existing land- and sea-based ballistic missiles. Any Russian and U.S. buildup would destabilize the mutual balance of nuclear terror, strain the already exorbitant and behind-schedule U.S. nuclear modernization program, and prompt China to accelerate its own nuclear buildup.”
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“Although Trump has decried the enormous costs of nuclear weapons—now projected to consume more than $800 billion in the next decade—he also has directed the U.S. Defense Department to make a priority of upgrading the nuclear arsenal and expanding missile defenses, ostensibly to defend against a Chinese or Russian strategic nuclear attack.”