The expiration of the last remaining U.S.–Russia nuclear arms control treaty removes legally binding caps on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals for the first time in decades.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The final nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia expired on Feb. 5, ending legally binding limits on the strategic arsenals of the world’s two largest nuclear powers and marking a significant shift in global security.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as New START, entered into force on Feb. 5, 2011, and was extended for five years in February 2021. Its expiration leaves Washington and Moscow without enforceable constraints on deployed nuclear weapons for the first time in more than half a century.
Under the treaty, each side was limited to 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers, with a cap of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 800 total launchers and bombers, whether deployed or not.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in September that Moscow was prepared to extend the treaty by one year. In the United States, President Donald Trump, who had previously called an extension a good idea, told The New York Times in an interview published Jan. 8, “If it expires, it expires. We’ll do a better agreement.”
In a statement issued Feb. 4, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that without a formal response from Washington, Moscow would “proceed from the understanding that the parties to New START are no longer bound by any obligations or reciprocal declarations in the context of the Treaty, including its central provisions, and are, in principle, free to choose their subsequent steps.”
The ministry said Russia “intends to act responsibly” in shaping its strategic offensive arms policy and will partly base its decisions on analysis of U.S. military policy, adding that Moscow remains open to “political and diplomatic ways of comprehensively stabilizing the strategic situation.”
Together, the United States and Russia hold about 86 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, according to a 2025 report by the Federation of American Scientists. Russia possesses approximately 5,459 nuclear warheads, while the United States has about 5,177, a total that includes both active warheads and retired weapons awaiting dismantlement.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a Feb. 4 statement that the expiration of New START marked a “grave moment” for international peace and security. “For the first time in more than half a century, we face a world without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals” of the two countries, he said.
Guterres warned that the collapse of the arms control framework comes amid rising geopolitical tensions and at a time when the risk of nuclear weapon use is “the highest in decades.” He urged Washington and Moscow to return to negotiations “without delay,” saying the world is watching for concrete action.
Verification provisions were central to New START. The treaty required on-site inspections and regular exchanges of data on nuclear forces to reduce mistrust and prevent miscalculation. In February 2023, Russia suspended its participation in the treaty’s verification regime, saying it would continue to observe limits on deployed warheads and delivery systems but without inspections or data sharing.
The United States declared Russia’s suspension legally invalid and responded by withholding its own treaty data and blocking Russian inspections. The U.S. Department of State has said full compliance could be restored if Moscow returns to the treaty’s terms, adding that the war in Ukraine does not justify Russian noncompliance.
Both sides have increasingly pointed to the role of other nuclear-armed states. Trump has said future arms control talks should include China, whose nuclear arsenal is significantly smaller, estimated at about 600 warheads by the Federation of American Scientists.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in September 2025 that the nuclear forces of the United Kingdom and France would eventually need to be part of broader negotiations. “Naturally, we have to start talks at the bilateral level. New START is after all a bilateral document,” Peskov told Russia’s state news agency TASS. “But in the long term, you cannot remain abstract with these arsenals.”
The United Kingdom has about 225 nuclear warheads, and France has approximately 290, according to FAS estimates.
China reacted cautiously to the treaty’s expiration. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Feb. 5 that Beijing “regrets” the end of New START and called on the United States to resume dialogue with Russia. He reiterated that China adheres to a self-defense nuclear strategy and said its forces are not comparable to those of Washington and Moscow.
“China’s nuclear forces are not on the same level as those of the United States and Russia, and China will not participate in disarmament negotiations at this stage,” Lin said.
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