United States and Russia Let New START Treaty Expire, Ending Legal Limits on Their Strategic Nuclear Arsenals

The New START treaty, the last remaining U.S.–Russia nuclear arms-control agreement that entered into force in 2011, officially expired in early February 2026.

“Both Beijing and Moscow expressed their regret at the lapse of the last Russia-US nuclear arms control treaty”

Al Jazeera

Its expiration removed legally binding limits and on‑site verification of the two countries’ strategic arsenals for the first time in decades.

Al Jazeera

News outlets reported the lapse left no formal caps on deployed warheads and launchers.

They noted the treaty previously capped each side at 1,550 deployed strategic warheads and set limits on deployed delivery systems.

Several accounts emphasized the historic scope of the change and the immediate legal effect: Washington and Moscow are no longer bound by New START’s limits.

Under New START, the parties agreed numerical caps and a verification regime: each side was limited to roughly 1,550 deployed strategic warheads, 700 deployed ICBMs/SLBMs and heavy bombers, and a set number of total launchers, alongside routine data exchanges and reciprocal on-site inspections.

Coverage stresses that the treaty's verification measures were already weakened in recent years, as inspections were suspended during the COVID pandemic and Russia halted participation in 2023.

BBC

With the treaty's formal expiration, those inspection mechanisms and routine exchanges have ended.

Global and institutional reactions were urgent and varied.

“UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the expiry of the New START Treaty at midnight Friday leaves the world, for the first time in more than 50 years, without binding limits on U”

Capitalfm.co.ke

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and other international figures warned the lapse was a grave turning point that raises the risk of nuclear use.

NATO urged responsibility and restraint.

Religious and civic leaders also expressed concern.

Moscow’s public statements struck a more measured tone, saying Russia would act in a balanced and responsible manner.

Moscow said the parties are no longer bound by New START.

It said it reserved the right to take countermeasures if its security is threatened.

Political fault-lines between capitals are apparent in coverage: Washington has signaled that any future arms-control framework should include China — a demand Beijing rejects — while Russia has argued NATO nuclear forces, notably Britain and France, should also be part of broader talks.

U.S. domestic politics and recent administrations complicate the picture, with outlets reporting that President Vladimir Putin proposed a one-year extension that the U.S. did not accept and that former President Trump gave mixed signals, sometimes saying an extension would be "good" while at other times being ambivalent.

CNN

These divergent demands and political calculations are repeatedly cited as obstacles to a quick successor agreement.

Experts and analysts warn the New START lapse reduces transparency, increases the risk of miscalculation or rapid uploads of warheads to deployed systems, and could catalyze a renewed arms race, though they say such rapid buildups would be technically and financially challenging.

“EU states have agreed conditions for a €90 billion loan to Ukraine approved in December”

DIE WELT

Coverage varies on the scale and immediacy of the threat: some emphasize immediate danger and symbolic erosion of decades of arms control, while others stress long timelines and technical limits on quick expansions.

DIE WELT

Observers call for urgent diplomacy to restore verifiable limits.