UN Urges Urgent US–Russia Talks as Nuclear Arms Treaty Lapses

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the expiration of the New START Treaty marks a dangerous turning point for global security, leaving the world without legally binding limits on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia.

As the treaty expired at midnight on Wednesday, Guterres urged both nations to immediately begin negotiations on a new nuclear arms control agreement. He stressed that, for the first time in over 50 years, there are no enforceable restrictions on the strategic nuclear weapons held by the two countries that possess the vast majority of the world’s nuclear stockpile.