On February 5, 2026 New START Treaty Expired, What Next to Avoid a Nuclear Armageddon

The expiry of the 2010 Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) marks the end of an era in nuclear arms control. On February 5, 2026, the New START Treaty — the last agreement governing US-Russian strategic stability — expired. This is the first time since 1972, when the first US-Soviet disarmament agreements were reached, that the US and Russia, possessing the largest nuclear arsenals, will have no valid treaty to control them. It was the last remaining bilateral treaty framework governing the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States—which hold…