A global nuclear arms race looms with the collapse of New START

It's clearly a historic moment, but hardly a very encouraging one.

- Jonathan Eyal Global Affairs Correspondent

Russia's Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system unit at a Victory Day military parade in Moscow's Red Square on May 9, 2025. With the end of New START-- the last remaining piece of a broader arms control infrastructure between Russia and the US-- both sides now have even more reason to fear for their global strategic position, says the writer.

(PHOTO: REUTERS)

For today Feb 5 - marks the expiry of the last treaty between Russia and the United States designed to limit the number of strategic nuclear forces each side can deploy against the other.Russia and the US - which between them account for around 90 per cent of all nuclear warheads - now no longer face any restrictions on how many such weapons they produce or deploy. More than that, the end of the so-called New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - or New START - will spur a global nuclear arms race, with all the risks of a catastrophic miscalculation.

The Doomsday Clock, invented by the US-based Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to warn the public about how close we may be to nuclear annihilation, is now set at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest the clock has ever been to midnight in its history.

A SHORT NUCLEAR SPRING

All arms control agreements are products of their time, and New START is no exception: It was concluded at a time when relations between Russia and the West appeared to be blossoming.

In May 2008, Russian President Vladimir Putin relinquished his post as head of state and was replaced by Mr Dmitry Medvedev, a relatively youthful leader who seemed to usher in a more liberal phase in the country's politics.

And in November the same year, an equally youthful Barack Obama won the US presidential elections.