UN chief calls for new talks on deal amid highest risk in decades

US-Russia nuclear weapons pact ends as arms race feared

- BY CHRIS HUGHES Defence and Security Editor

THE last remaining US-Russia nuclear arms pact has ended, sparking major fears of a new global atomic weapons race.

Termination of the 15-year-old New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - aimed at halting the threat of a nuclear war - comes at the worst time for world peace, experts say.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it “marks a grave moment for international peace and security” and urged Russia and the US to negotiate.

The treaty expired at midnight, marking an end to the arms control cooperation between Washington and Moscow that helped to end the Cold War.