The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, described the expiration of the New START treaty as a critical moment for international peace and security. While Russia declared it is no longer bound by the agreement, Washington has largely remained silent.
Guterres said that, for the first time in more than half a century, the world is facing the absence of any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia.
He stressed that nuclear arms control during and after the Cold War played a decisive role in preventing catastrophe and in building global stability.
Guterres urged Washington and Moscow to return immediately to the negotiating table and to agree on an alternative framework that restores verifiable limits and strengthens shared security.
Russian declaration and American silence
Russia announced on Wednesday that it no longer considers itself bound by the New START treaty on nuclear arms reduction with the United States, as the agreement expired on Thursday. This development opens the door to a new phase of uncertainty in the global nuclear sphere, amid growing concerns over a potential arms race.
In contrast, Washington has largely refrained from outlining its next steps. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had no announcement at this stage, noting that President Donald Trump would speak later, without specifying a timeline.
Rubio also reaffirmed the United States’ interest in involving China in any future discussions, citing the rapid growth of its nuclear stockpile.
Warnings of a new nuclear arms race
In international reactions, Germany expressed concern over Moscow’s position, while France called on major nuclear powers to work towards an international arms control system. Paris warned that the end of New START removes any limit on the world’s largest nuclear arsenals for the first time since the Cold War.
Pope Leo XIV called for preventing a new arms race, stressing the need to replace a logic of fear and mistrust with shared ethics.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, known as ICAN, also warned of an accelerating arms race between the United States and Russia, urging both sides to explicitly adhere to the treaty’s limits while negotiating a new framework.
Signed in 2010, the New START treaty was the last remaining arms control agreement between Washington and Moscow. It set a ceiling of 800 launchers and 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads for each side, alongside mutual verification mechanisms.
The treaty’s expiration marks a shift towards a less regulated nuclear order, particularly after inspection activities were suspended in 2023 following Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
