In a blow to international stability, the New START treaty – the last vestige of US-Russia nuclear arms control – expired on Thursday, eliminating legal barriers to expanding atomic arsenals amid soaring geopolitical tensions.
Prague, 2010: Obama and Medvedev inked the deal, committing to halve strategic warheads to 1,550 deployed units and cap delivery systems at 700. On-site verifications ensured honesty, a hard-won concession after years of mistrust.
Extended to 2026, the pact unraveled post-Ukraine invasion. Putin’s 2023 inspection freeze cited Western ‘hostility,’ though Russia vowed limit compliance. A September 2025 olive branch – offering mutual one-year adherence – went unanswered, dooming the treaty.
Unshackled, Moscow and Washington can now ramp up. Russia’s Sarmat ‘Satan II’ missiles and Bureau upgrades loom large, matching US B-21 Raiders and W87-1 warheads. This freedom risks a feedback loop: each test or deployment prompts countermeasures, inflating stockpiles exponentially.
The implications are chilling. Nuclear thresholds lower as leaders invoke doomsday scenarios routinely. Absent New START’s guardrails, accidents or misjudgments carry graver consequences. UN officials decry the lapse as ‘reckless,’ urging emergency talks. Yet with trust evaporated, rebuilding controls demands unprecedented diplomacy – or the world edges closer to abyss.