International News
Russia To Extend Nuclear Arms Limits With US By One Year
Russia offered Monday to keep abiding by the nuclear warhead limits in a key treaty with the United States once it expires in February, but only for one year and if Washington did the same.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010, is the last remaining nuclear arms reduction agreement between the world’s top two atomic powers and limits the number of nuclear warheads each side can deploy.
However inspections were suspended during the COVID-19 crisis while talks on extending the agreement have broken down in recent years due to tensions over the Ukraine conflict, sparking fears that both sides will breach the limits once it expires.
“Fully abandoning the legacy of this agreement would be, from many perspectives, a mistaken and short-sighted step,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised meeting.
“To avoid provoking a strategic arms race… Russia is prepared to continue adhering to the central quantitative limitations of the New START Treaty for one year after February 5, 2026,” Putin added.
“We believe that this measure will only be viable if the United States acts in a similar manner and does not take steps that undermine or disrupt the existing balance of deterrence potentials,” he said.
Russia froze its participation in New START in 2023 but has continued to voluntarily follow the limits set in the treaty.
The agreement restricts both sides to a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads each, a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002.
It also allowed both sides to carry out on-site inspections of the other’s nuclear arsenal, although these were halted during the coronavirus pandemic and have not resumed since.
Monday’s proposal from Putin did not provide for a resumption of these inspections, which were central to the original agreement.
Nuclear sabre-rattling
Heloise Fayet, a research fellow at the French Institute of International Relations, told AFP the proposal was Putin’s way of “controlling the narrative” after US President Donald Trump proposed denuclearisation talks with Russia and China.
She also linked the offer to Trump’s plans to build a massive air-defence shield covering the United States, dubbed the “Golden Dome”.
“It’s something the Russians do not want. What the Russians are implying is that if the Golden Dome project gains credibility, if the Americans commit to it, there will no longer be any limitations under New Start,” she told AFP.
Anti-proliferation talks between Russia and the United States, which together control more than 80 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads, have deteriorated in recent years.
In 2019, the two countries withdrew from the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.
Concluded in 1987 by then-US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the agreement limited the use of medium-range missiles, both conventional and nuclear.
In 2023, Putin signed a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, although Moscow said it would stick to the moratorium on atomic testing.
Russia has also been accused of nuclear sabre-rattling since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Days after launching the assault, Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert.
The Russian leader last year signed a decree lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons.
Some tensions between the two sides have abated since Trump came into office in January, but neither side has held substantive talks on the nuclear issue.
In August, Trump said he was moving two nuclear submarines in response to what he described as “highly provocative” comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
German authorities deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens across five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to migration monitoring reports.
Data from the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org shows the deportations occurred in phases, with 27 Nigerians returned in February, 37 in March through a joint European Union operation, 24 in April, 23 in May, and 26 in June.
The February operation departed from Stuttgart and landed at Lagos Cargo Airport, with Baden-Württemberg listed as a primary participant. The March operation represented the largest single return of Nigerians recorded over three years and was executed in collaboration with Spain, Austria, and Belgium.
The reports indicate a growing reliance on multi-national chartered flights by European states to repatriate undocumented or non-resident individuals to Nigeria.
The United States has condemned the killing of members of the family of Plateau-based cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, describing the attack as horrific and urging Nigerian authorities to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
In a statement shared on X on Thursday, the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs expressed condolences to the victims’ families and called for stronger measures to prevent further attacks on vulnerable communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The United States strongly condemns the horrific killing of members of Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s family in Plateau State, Nigeria. The continued violence targeting Christian communities and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is deeply alarming,” the bureau said
The US said it had already engaged Nigerian officials on the worsening security situation, stressing that urgent action was needed to curb recurring attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.
“As I discussed last week with Nigerian officials, we must do more to prevent violent acts. The perpetrators must be held accountable, and urgent action is needed to strengthen security and protect Christians and other vulnerable communities,” the statement added.
The bureau reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to working with the Nigerian government to combat terrorism and violent extremism, stressing that Christians and other Nigerians should be able to practise their faith without fear of violence.
The statement followed the July 12 attack on Kum community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, where nine members of Rev. Dachomo’s extended family, including a two-month-old baby, were killed.
According to the cleric, the attackers, believed to be armed Fulani militias, asked for him by name before opening fire on his relatives.
Dachomo, who serves as Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, said his family had repeatedly been targeted because of his outspoken criticism of the violence in Plateau State.
He recalled that his grandmother and an uncle were also killed in previous attacks, adding that days after burying his relatives, he received a written death threat from the same group, warning that he would be their next target.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
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