UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned that the expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between the United States (US) and Russia marks a “grave moment for international peace and security,” ending decades of legally binding limits on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals.
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“The expiration of the New START Treaty, as of midnight today, marks a grave moment for international peace and security,” Guterres said, emphasizing that “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 Russian Federation and the United States, the two States that possess the overwhelming majority of the global stockpile of nuclear weapons.”
🇺🇸🇷🇺 New era of nuclear uncertainty begins as New START expires
The last major arms control treaty between the US and Russia ends Thursday, removing critical limits on warheads and delivery systems, and dismantling a key transparency regime
Putin offered to extend the agreement… pic.twitter.com/gJBmYzhnJl
— The Other Side Media (@TheOtherSideRu) February 2, 2026
Russia-US NUKE reduction treaty expires TOMORROW
Rubio: ‘I don’t have any announcement New START right now, Prez will pine in on it later’
‘To have true arms control, impossible to do something that doesn’t include China’ pic.twitter.com/UjTk0vEiCi
— Victor vicktop55 commentary (@vick55top) February 4, 2026
Guterres noted that nuclear arms control agreements between the US and Russia have long served as a stabilizing force, helping reduce the risk of catastrophic miscalculation. From the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) to New START, bilateral accords have led to the reduction of thousands of nuclear weapons and strengthened global security.
“The dissolution of decades of achievement could not come at a worse time,” he warned, highlighting that the risk of nuclear weapon use is the highest in decades. The UN chief cautioned that the absence of verifiable limits on strategic arsenals increases global insecurity amid rising geopolitical tensions and rapid technological developments.
However, Guterres also framed the moment as an opportunity to reinvigorate arms control efforts. He urged the United States and Russia to “translate words into action” by returning to negotiations promptly and agreeing on a successor framework that restores verifiable limits, reduces risks, and strengthens collective security.
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The New START Treaty, signed in Prague on April 8, 2010, and effective from February 5, 2011, replaced the 1991 START I treaty and superseded the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), establishing the last legally binding limits on US and Russian strategic nuclear forces.