US and Russia No Longer Bound by Nuclear Treaty, Raising Arms Control Concerns
For the first time in over half a century, the United States and Russia are operating without a legally binding agreement limiting their strategic nuclear forces. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), signed in 2010 by then-US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, expired on Thursday, February 5, 2026, leaving no formal constraints on the nuclear arsenals of the two nations.
The expiration of New START raises concerns about a potential nuclear arms race between the US and Russia. The treaty had committed both countries to specific reductions in their deployed nuclear warheads, delivery systems, and launchers.
The development comes amid heightened global tensions, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an interview with French public broadcaster France 2 on Wednesday, revealed that approximately 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Zelenskyy's statement marked a rare public acknowledgement of the significant human cost of the war.
Adding to the complex geopolitical landscape, renewed US-Iran nuclear talks are scheduled to take place in Oman on Friday. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced the talks on Wednesday, following earlier uncertainty about whether they would proceed. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam expressed his support for these diplomatic efforts, emphasizing the need to avoid an "all-out war" in the Middle East, as tensions between Iran and the United States continue to escalate. "I want to emphasise that the question of war and peace is in the hands of the government and solely of the government," Salam told Euronews' EU editor Maria Tadeo at the World Governments Summit.
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