Russia says it will stick to New START's nuclear arms limits as long as the US does

MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow will observe the limits of the last nuclear arms pact with the United States that expired last week as long as it sees that Washington is doing the same, Russia's top diplomat said Wednesday.

The New START treaty expired Feb. 5, leaving no restrictions on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century and fueling fears of an unconstrained nuclear arms race.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last year declared his readiness to stick to the treaty’s limits for another year if Washington followed suit, but U.S. President Donald Trump has argued that he wants China to be a part of a new pact — something Beijing has rejected.

Speaking Wednesday to the parliament's lower house, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that even though the U.S. hasn't responded to Putin's offer, Russia will respect New START's caps for as long as it sees that the U.S. observes them too.

“The moratorium declared by the president will remain as long as the U.S. doesn't exceed these limits,” Lavrov told lawmakers. "We will act in a responsible and balanced way on the basis of analysis of the U.S. military policies.”

He added that “we have reason to believe that the United States is in no hurry to abandon these limits and that they will be observed for the foreseeable future.”

“We will closely monitor how things are actually unfolding," Lavrov said. "If our American colleagues’ intention to maintain some kind of cooperation on this is confirmed, we will work actively on a new agreement and consider the issues that have remained outside strategic stability agreements."

Lavrov's statement followed a report by Axios claiming Russian and U.S. negotiators discussed a possible informal deal to observe the pact’s limits for at least six months during talks last week in Abu Dhabi. Asked to comment on the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that any such extension could only be formal, adding that “it’s hard to imagine any informal extension in this sphere.”

At the same time, Peskov confirmed that Russian and U.S. negotiators discussed future nuclear arms control in Abu Dhabi where delegations from Moscow, Kyiv and Washington held two days of talks on a peace settlement in Ukraine.

“There is an understanding, and they talked about it in Abu Dhabi, that both parties will take responsible positions and both parties realize the need to start talks on the issue as soon as possible,” Peskov said.

New START, signed in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, was the last of a long series of agreements between Moscow and Washington to limit their nuclear arsenals, starting with SALT I in 1972.

New START restricted each side to no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads on no more than 700 missiles and bombers deployed and ready for use. It was originally set to expire in 2021 but was extended for five years.

The pact envisioned sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance, although they stopped in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never resumed.

In February 2023, Putin suspended Moscow’s participation, saying Russia couldn’t allow U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites at a time when Washington and its NATO allies openly declared they wanted Moscow’s defeat in Ukraine. But the Kremlin also emphasized it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether, pledging to respect its caps on nuclear weapons.

In September, Putin offered to keep the New START’s limits for another year to buy time for both sides to negotiate a successor agreement.

Even as New START expired, the U.S. and Russia agreed on Feb. 5 to reestablish high-level, military-to-military dialogue following a meeting between senior officials from both sides in Abu Dhabi, the U.S. military command in Europe said. The link was suspended in 2021 as relations grew increasingly strained before Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Lavrov described personal relations between Putin and Trump as “excellent,” saying that their “mutual sympathy and respect helped create the atmosphere that allowed them to reach understanding" on specific issues during their August summit in Anchorage, Alaska, including Ukraine.

Asked by lawmakers about the U.S. bid to take control of Greenland, Lavrov said it doesn't concern Russia, but he noted that “in case of militarization of Greenland and the creation of military capabilities there aimed against Russia, we will take relevant countermeasures, including those of a military-technical character.”

He described the U.S. ban for Russia, China and Iran to make any transactions with Venezuelan oil as “discriminatory,” noting that Moscow expects Washington to develop relations on the basis of “mutual respect.”

Lavrov emphasized that while the Kremlin hasn't yet launched a “strategic dialogue” with the Trump administration, “we are always open for such dialogue.”

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Additional AP coverage: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/

In this photo released by The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, centre, delivers his speech at the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service via AP)

In this photo released by The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, baclground right, delivers his speech at the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service via AP)

In this photo released by The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gestures as he delivers his speech at the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service via AP)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a news conference following his meeting with OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ignazio Cassis and OSCE Secretary General Feridun H. Sinirlioglu at Zinaida Morozova's Mansion in Moscow, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)

FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin, Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - This photo taken from a video distributed on Dec. 9, 2020 by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, shows a rocket launch as part of a ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile test at the Plesetsk facility in northwestern Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Trump administration official said the airspace over El Paso was closed after Mexican cartel drones breached the airspace, but said that the Defense Department took action to disable the drones.

Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department have determined there is no threat to commercial travel, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a national security issue.

The official did not say how many drones were involved or what specifically was done to disable them.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

The Federal Aviation Administration reopened the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas on Wednesday morning, just hours after it announced a 10-day closure that would have grounded all flights to and from the airport.

The FAA said in a social media post that it has lifted the temporary closure of the airspace over El Paso, saying there was no threat to commercial aviation and that all flights will resume.

The shutdown announced just hours earlier “for special security reasons” had been expected to create significant disruptions given the duration and the size of the metropolitan area.

El Paso, a border city with a population of nearly 700,000 people and larger when you include the surrounding metro area, is hub of cross-border commerce alongside the neighboring city of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. The brief closure does not include Mexican airspace.

The airport said in an Instagram post after the closure was announced that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded from late Tuesday through late on Feb. 20, including commercial, cargo and general aviation flights. It suggested travelers contact their airlines to get up-to-date flight information.

Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes El Paso, had urged the FAA to lift the restrictions in a statement Wednesday morning. There was no advance notice given to her office, the city of El Paso or airport operations, she said.

“The highly consequential decision by FAA to shut down the El Paso Airport for 10 days is unprecedented and has resulted in significant concern within the community,” Escobar said. “From what my office and I have been able to gather overnight and early this morning there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas.”

The airport describes itself as the gateway to west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Southwest, United, American and Delta all operate flights there, among others.

A similar temporary flight restriction for special security reasons over the same time period was imposed around Santa Teresa, New Mexico, which is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of the El Paso airport.

Southwest Airlines said in a statement that it has paused all operations to and from El Paso at the direction of the FAA.

“We have notified affected customers and will share additional information as it becomes available,” Southwest Airlines said. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of its customers and employees.”

FILE - A Federal Aviation Administration sign hangs in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)