Even with Putin insisting to extend the New START, Trump won't do it. He hates the black man that negotiated it, signed it and saw it come into effect. I strongly suggest Russia and the USA draw up a New START II and move forward while there is still a year until the end of New START.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) (click here) was signed April 8, 2010, in Prague by the United States and Russia and entered into force on Feb. 5, 2011. New START replaced the 1991 START I treaty, which expired December 2009, and superseded the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), which terminated when New START entered into force....
February 10, 2020
...The New Start treaty, (click here) which limits the United States and Russia each to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 delivery vehicles, is set to expire Feb. 5, 2021. A five-year extension procedure was included in the treaty, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia has urged the United States to begin talks to implement it. Unfortunately, the Trump administration seems to be in no hurry. An extension is in the interest of both sides: The treaty provides for intrusive verification and ensures stability in nuclear arsenals.
If New Start lapses, both countries will be free to deploy more nuclear warheads and build new generations of weapons and delivery systems. While both have been steadily modernizing nuclear forces in asynchronous cycles, they were adhering to New Start limits. All bets are off without it. Russia has lately boasted of new programs such as a hypersonic glide vehicle, and the United States has confirmed deployment of a new, low-yield nuclear warhead, the W76-2, on a submarine-based ballistic missile. These developments are but a hint of what will come with unrestrained nuclear competition....
