Trump says Putin’s offer on nuclear arms control ‘sounds like a good idea’
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US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands after their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, US, on Aug 15.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Oct 5 said Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to voluntarily maintain limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons "sounds like a good idea."
Mr Putin in September offered to voluntarily maintain limits
“Sounds like a good idea to me," Mr Trump told reporters as he departed the White House, when asked about Mr Putin's offer.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia last week had said Moscow was still waiting for Mr Trump to respond to Mr Putin's offer to voluntarily maintain the limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons once a key arms control treaty expires.
Any agreement on continuing to limit nuclear arms would stand in contrast to rising tensions between the United States and Russia since Mr Trump and Mr Putin met in Alaska in mid-August given reported incursions of Russian drones into Nato airspace.
Speaking in a video clip released on Oct 5, Mr Putin warned that a decision by the United States to supply long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for strikes deep into Russia would destroy Moscow's relationship with Washington.
US Vice-President J.D. Vance said in September that Washington was considering a Ukrainian request to obtain missiles that could strike deep into Russia, including Moscow, though it is unclear if a final decision has been made.
Mr Trump, who has expressed disappointment in Mr Putin for not moving to end the war in Ukraine, was not asked directly on Oct 5 about the prospect of supplying Tomahawks to Ukraine.
"This will lead to the destruction of our relations, or at least the positive trends that have emerged in these relations," Mr Putin said in a video clip released on Oct 5 by Russian state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.
One US official and three other sources told Reuters that the Trump administration's desire to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine may not be viable because current inventories are committed to the US Navy and other uses.
Mr Trump is touring a US Navy aircraft carrier, the George H.W. Bush, off the coast of Virginia on Oct 5, and will give a speech on a second carrier, the Harry S. Truman, later.
Tomahawk cruise missiles have a range of 2,500km. If Ukraine got the missiles, the Kremlin and all of European Russia would be within target. REUTERS
