Key points
- 1987 INF Treaty effectively ended in 2019 when the US withdrew
- Recently Russia announced it would no longer abide by its restrictions on missile deployments
- New START treaty only remaining US-Russia arms control agreement
ISLAMABAD: For decades, nuclear arms control between the United States and Russia, formerly the Soviet Union, helped reduce the threat of nuclear conflict, but that framework is now crumbling.
According to an Associated Press report, the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was effectively ended in 2019 when the US withdrew, and recently Russia announced it would no longer abide by its restrictions on missile deployments covered by that pact.
This leaves the New START treaty, signed in 2010, as the only remaining US-Russia arms control agreement. But experts say it is “functionally dead” and set to expire in February 2026 without renewal.
Only one treaty
Russia suspended participation in New START inspections after its invasion of Ukraine, although it claims to still respect the treaty’s limits.
Alexander Bollfrass of the International Institute for Strategic Studies noted that while the collapse of treaties does not necessarily increase the likelihood of nuclear war, it “certainly doesn’t make it less likely.” Sidharth Kaushal of the Royal United Services Institute said new bilateral agreements are “highly unlikely” given the lack of trust between the two nations.
Reduced nuclear stockpiles
Once numbering over 60,000 warheads combined during the Cold War, US and Russian nuclear stockpiles have been significantly reduced through arms control agreements.
But today, together they still hold about 87 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
