Russia should wait for US to ‘come crawling back’ – Medvedev

The US would perceive Russian attempts to negotiate a prolongation of the New START nuclear treaty as a sign of weakness, so no talks should take place unless Washington changes its behavior, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev argued on Monday.

“We don’t have any relationship with the US at the moment. They are at zero degrees Kelvin. And we should not unfreeze them for now,” the official wrote on social media.

“Let them come or crawl and beg for it. And they should value it as an act of utmost generosity,” he added. “Otherwise, this is how it looks: they toss only sleaze our way, and we go, there, have this nuclear deal, please.”

New START is the last remaining bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty between the US and Russia. It limits the two nations’ stockpiles of nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles for them. While president, Medvedev signed the deal with US President Barack Obama in April 2010.

The agreement was extended for five more years in 2021, with President Joe Biden saving it at the last minute from expiring, which had been the intention of his predecessor, Donald Trump. The Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, lamented a lack of Russian-American contacts on strategic stability and suggested that a replacement treaty should be negotiated now, despite the countries’ mutual hostility.

Medvedev, who serves as deputy chair of the Russian National Security Council, argued that the US-Russian conflict had reached a “dead zone” point where talking even about arrangements that both parties find beneficial would be counterproductive.