Russian and US nuclear arms limits expire

On Thursday, February 5, 2026, the Russian‑American Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms – better known as New START – expired. It was the last remaining agreement regulating the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States.

On the eve of the expiry, on February 4, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said: "In this situation, we will act in a balanced and responsible manner, based on a thorough analysis of the overall security environment."

"We remain open to finding negotiated paths for ensuring strategic stability," RBK quoted him as saying.

Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement indicating that Moscow proceeds from the understanding that the parties to the treaty "are no longer bound by any obligations or symmetrical declarations" within its framework, and therefore "are free to choose their subsequent steps."

The ministry reiterated that Russia will "act responsibly and in a balanced manner, building its line in the field of strategic offensive arms on the basis of a thorough analysis of US military policy and the overall situation in the strategic sphere."

The Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) is an agreement between Russia and the United States that sets out how the two sides should reduce their strategic offensive arsenals. The document was signed in 2010 in Prague by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. It entered into force on February 5, 2011; ten years later it was extended for another five years.

New START covers the following categories of weapons: intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), their launchers and warheads; submarine‑launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), their launchers and warheads; and heavy bombers and their nuclear armaments.

For these systems, Russia and the United States established the following limits: – 700 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers; – 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and nuclear warheads attributed to heavy bombers; – 800 deployed and non‑deployed launchers of ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers.

In September 2025, Vladimir Putin, speaking at a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, said that Moscow would be prepared to observe the New START restrictions for at least another year after its expiration – that is, until February 5, 2027. He set two conditions for that: first, that the United States pledge to do the same; second, that Washington "not take steps that undermine or violate the existing balance of deterrence capabilities" – in particular, that it not build up its missile defense (MD) systems.

US President Donald Trump initially called this a good idea, but soon made clear that the fate of the treaty did not particularly concern him. "If it expires, it expires," the American leader said in an interview with The New York Times. "We will conclude a better agreement." According to Yuri Ushakov, by February 4 no response from the United States to Putin’s proposal had been received.

In Moscow’s assessment, without New START the world finds itself in a more dangerous position than it has been until now.

"For the first time, the United States and the Russian Federation – the two countries with the world’s largest nuclear arsenals – will remain without a fundamental document that limits and controls these arsenals. We believe this is very bad," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 3.