Thread by @Monaheart1229

Is PUTIN distancing himself from Trump?
In response to WH saying Trump & Putin had a 'Gentlemen's agreement' about Nuke Deal, Russia said last night "‘Washington is describing what is desired, not what is real’
nytimes.com/2020/10/14/us/…

2-"President Trump had a pre-election plan to show he had gotten something out of his mysteriously friendly relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

3-"In the weeks before the election, the two men would announce that they had reached an agreement in principle to extend New START, the last remaining major arms control agreement between the two countries. It expires on Feb. 5, two weeks after the next presidential inauguration

4-"On Tuesday, Marshall Billingslea, Mr. Trump’s lead negotiator, announced that the two leaders had an ‘agreement in principle, at the highest levels of our two governments, to extend the treaty.’ Mr. Billingslea described an added ‘gentleman’s agreement’ to cap each country’s

5-"stockpile of weapons not currently deployed on missiles, submarines or bombers. Details needed to be worked out, he cautioned, including the tricky work of verifying compliance.

6-"It sounded like a promising solution, for a few hours. Then the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei A. Ryabkov, shot back that this was a figment of someone’s election-season imagination.

7-"‘Washington is describing what is desired, not what is real,’ he said in a statement. For example, he said, Moscow would not freeze the number of tactical weapons it possesses.” ~NYT