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MOSCOW – In a significant shift in global nuclear policy, the last standing nuclear arms agreement between Russia and the United States came to an end on Thursday. This marks the first time in over fifty years where no limitations are in place on the world’s two most extensive nuclear arsenals.
This expiration of the New START Treaty raises alarms about the potential onset of an unrestricted nuclear arms race, a scenario that many international observers find deeply concerning.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously expressed willingness to adhere to the treaty’s restrictions for an additional year, contingent on reciprocal action from the United States. However, U.S. President Donald Trump has remained ambiguous about whether he would support an extension of the agreement.
On Wednesday, Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov mentioned that Putin had a discussion with Chinese leader Xi Jinping regarding the treaty’s expiration. Ushakov pointed out that Washington has yet to respond to Putin’s proposal for an extension.
In the wake of the treaty’s lapse, Ushakov assured that Russia intends to “act in a balanced and responsible manner,” basing its actions on a comprehensive analysis of the current security landscape.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday night said in a statement that “under the current circumstances, we assume that the parties to the New START Treaty are no longer bound by any obligations or symmetrical declarations within the context of the Treaty, including its core provisions, and are fundamentally free to choose their next steps.”
New START, signed in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, restricted each side to no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads on no more than 700 missiles and bombers — deployed and ready for use. It was originally supposed to expire in 2021 but was extended for five more years.
The pact envisioned sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance, although they stopped in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never resumed.
In February 2023, Putin suspended Moscow’s participation, saying Russia couldn’t allow U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites at a time when Washington and its NATO allies have openly declared Moscow’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal. At the same time, the Kremlin emphasized it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether, pledging to respect its caps on nuclear weapons.
In offering in September to abide by New START’s limits for a year to buy time for both sides to negotiate a successor agreement, Putin said the pact’s expiration would be destabilizing and could fuel nuclear proliferation.
New START followed a long succession of U.S.-Russian nuclear arms reduction pacts. Those have been terminated, as well.
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