Putin backs Trump’s peace push, eyes New START extension
In Dushanbe on Oct. 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised President Donald Trump’s efforts toward a Gaza ceasefire and a Ukraine settlement and said Moscow is open to extending the New START nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. for one year past its February expiration. Putin referenced an August Alaska summit with Trump, said the sides have a general understanding on ending the Ukraine conflict, and warned that without New START no arms-control pact would remain between the two largest nuclear powers.
International
National Security
📌 Key Facts
- Putin said Trump is doing “a lot” to resolve longstanding crises and called a Gaza ceasefire “historic” if implemented.
- He said Russia and the U.S. could still agree to a one‑year extension of New START, which limits 1,550 deployed warheads and 700 delivery systems, before its February expiry.
- Putin cited an August meeting in Alaska with Trump about Ukraine and noted Trump recently said an extension “sounds like a good idea.”
📚 Contextual Background
- Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 2022-02-24.
- A peace plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump called for Hamas to free all remaining hostages and for the Israeli military to begin withdrawing from parts of Gaza in phases; the plan also proposed transferring parts of Gaza to a "technocratic" Palestinian committee and deploying a temporary security force backed by Arab states.
- The proposed plan specified that Hamas would release the remaining hostages taken on October 7, 2023 within 72 hours of an agreement, and that Israel would release 250 Palestinians serving life sentences plus 1,700 other Gazans detained after the start of the conflict as part of the exchange.