Global Fallout of New START’s Expiration

The expiration of the New START on February 5, 2026, marks the end of an era of nuclear restraint.

- Amarjeet Kumar

For the first time in over fifty years, the United States and Russia—which together possess nearly 90 percent of the worlds nuclear weapons—are operating without a binding legal framework.This lapse dismantles the verification regime of onsite inspections and data exchanges that once prevented mistrust from escalating into aggressive policy. Without these safeguards, global security shifts from “trust but verify” to a volatile cycle of “suspect and reac