France backs srategic arms control among major nuclear powers

France supports strategic arms control between the world’s largest nuclear powers, the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavré said at a briefing.

“As far as we are concerned, France is in favour of strategic arms control between states that possess the largest nuclear arsenals,” he said when asked to comment on France’s position ahead of the expiration of the Russia–US Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

According to Confavré, France follows a doctrine of strict sufficiency, under which the country’s nuclear arsenal is maintained at the minimum level necessary to ensure national security and deter potential aggressors. “Because of this doctrine, we were not parties to New START,” he noted.

He added that on February 5, “with the termination of New START, for the first time since the Cold War, all limits on the world’s largest nuclear arsenals will disappear.”

Confavré had earlier said that France’s nuclear arsenal is not comparable to those of the US or Russia and that Paris has no grounds to join any negotiations on strategic arms control.

In 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the country’s nuclear arsenal consisted of fewer than 300 warheads. In March 2025, he pledged to begin discussions with allies on the possibility of extending the protection of France’s nuclear deterrent forces to European countries. Germany, Poland, Lithuania, and Denmark have already indicated they are open to discussing the issue.

The British newspaper Financial Times previously reported that US allies in Europe and Asia are exploring options to create their own “nuclear shield” amid the US administration’s policy of restoring relations with Russia.

By Tamilla Hasanova