The United States and Russia will resume a high-level military-to-military dialogue that was suspended just before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, officials said Thursday, in the latest sign the Trump administration is pursuing more normalized relations with Moscow even as a key nuclear weapons treaty between the two powers expired.
Thursday marked the end of New START, which limits the numbers and types of nuclear weapons each country maintains. In response, President Donald Trump called for a “new, improved, modernized” pact that could last for a long time.
Both developments coincided with the latest efforts to end the four-year-old Ukraine conflict. The decision to resume military talks between Washington and Moscow, according to one U.S. official, was a direct by-product of the peace negotiations, which so far have failed to produce a significant breakthrough that would halt the fighting. U.S.-Russian interactions in recent days created an opening for further dialogue, the official said.
The Kremlin had no official comment on the resumption of military talks, and its embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The nuclear treaty’s lapse has worried nonproliferation experts, who fear it will spur a new, destabilizing arms race as each side looks at short-range nuclear weapons and explores potential new uses — including in space. Trump has also suggested that a future U.S. battleship could serve as a platform to launch nuclear missiles.
For now, there’s no agreement by either side to hold to the terms of the expired treaty, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. Her Russian counterpart, Dmitry Peskov, said “everything will depend on how events develop,” and that Russia will “maintain its responsible approach to strategic stability in the field of nuclear weapons, guided first and foremost by its national interests.”
The U.S. disbanded military-to-military dialogue with Russia in late 2021, as the Kremlin amassed a large invading force outside Ukraine’s borders.
Since then, relations between the nations cratered as the U.S. and its European allies provided Ukraine with advanced weapons systems to defend itself. Russia has responded with nuclear threats and aggressive long-range strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.
Trump has vowed to end the conflict, but his overtures to Russia’s mercurial leader, Vladimir Putin, have yielded little progress toward that goal. The most recent negotiations, hosted by the United Arab Emirates, did not result in any breakthroughs, though Russia and Ukraine did agree to a prisoner exchange.
Amid the standoff between Washington and Moscow, the two sides kept a hotline open — and at certain points in the conflict, top U.S. and Russian military officials have communicated.
The resumption of regular dialogue will enable Moscow to hold talks with Washington on security topics outside of the Ukraine conflict. That risks further roiling leaders in Europe, who have bristled at Trump’s approach to Putin.
It may also be opportune for Moscow, as Russia “is not well positioned for a contest in strategic nuclear forces given economic and defense-industrial constraints,” after years of war in Ukraine, said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
In a statement, U.S. military officials said that the resumed dialogue will be led by Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, head of U.S. European Command, and his Russian counterparts. The aim, the statement says, is to provide a means for “increased transparency and de-escalation.”
The resumption of official dialogue means there will be a formal meeting structure and schedule for interaction between the two militaries, much as the U.S. has now re-established with China, where they discuss near-incursions between Chinese and U.S. ships or aircraft or other higher-level issues.
“This is one more indication that, you know, Trump is looking to reestablish great power relations with Russia, much like he’s trying to do with China, where he’s pushed military-to-military communications as well,” said retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, a senior director at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Abbakumova reported from Riga, Latvia. Michael Birnbaum in Washington and Catherine Belton in London contributed to this report.
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