Senior Kremlin officials express little hope for a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States due to lack of trust and warn of other countries gaining nuclear weapons. The disintegration of arms control treaties and China's expanding nuclear arsenal contribute to the bleak assessment. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov states that it is currently very difficult to imagine starting negotiations for a replacement to the New START treaty. Russia's war in Ukraine has strained relations with the West, and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev predicts that more countries will acquire nuclear weapons in the future.