UNITED NATIONS, United States: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called on the United States and Russia to quickly sign a new nuclear deal, as the existing treaty approaches expiration at a “grave moment for international peace and security.”
The New START agreement, which limits nuclear arsenals, is set to end Thursday, formally releasing both Moscow and Washington from a range of restrictions on their strategic weapons.
“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 of America,” Guterres said in a statement.
According to AFP, the UN chief noted that New START and other arms control treaties had “drastically improved the security of all peoples.” He warned that the dissolution of decades of progress comes at a time when “the risk of a nuclear weapon being used is the highest in decades,” though he did not provide further details.
Guterres urged both countries “to return to the negotiating table without delay and to agree upon a successor framework.”
The United States and Russia together control more than 80 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads, yet longstanding arms agreements have been steadily unraveling.
First signed in 2010, New START capped each side’s nuclear arsenal at 1,550 deployed strategic warheads — nearly a 30 percent reduction from the previous limit set in 2002. The treaty also allowed on-site inspections of each other’s nuclear stockpiles, though these inspections were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic and have not resumed since.
