US President Donald Trump on Thursday called for a new nuclear treaty instead of extending the caps on nuclear weapons deployments with Russia.

Hours after the pact that held the world's two largest nuclear arsenals in check for more than two decades expired, Trump said that the New START treaty was "badly negotiated" and "is being grossly violated."

"We should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. 

Trump rejects Putin's offer of one-year extension of New START

Trump's post was in response to a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to extend the treaty for one more year.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) pact, signed in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, limited each side to 1,550 warheads on 700 delivery systems — missiles, aircraft and submarines.

The treaty allowed a single five-year extension, ‌which Putin and former US President Joe Biden agreed to in 2021.

Trump did not specify which countries would be included in a new treaty, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said talks with Russia would continue. Trump has previously said China, which has a rapidly growing nuclear arsenal, needed to be included in any future agreement. China's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it would not participate in such a nuclear arms reduction treaty. 

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia regrets the treaty's expiration and would engage in dialogue if the US responds constructively to Putin's proposal.

He said Russia will maintain its "responsible, thorough approach to stability when it comes to nuclear weapons,” adding that "of course, it will be guided primarily by its national interests." 

US, Russia agree to resume military-to-military talks

The expiration of the New START coincided with the resumption of high-level, military-to-military dialogue between the US and Russia.

The development follows a meeting between senior officials from both sides in Abu Dhabi in the margins of talks about the war in Ukraine, the US military command in Europe said.

The contacts were suspended in 2021 shortly before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Maintaining dialogue between militaries is an important factor in global stability and peace, which can only be achieved through strength, and provides a means for increased transparency and de-escalation," the US military's European Command said in a statement.

Edited by: Sean Sinico