For the first time in decades, the U.S. and Russia have no limits on nuclear weapons

"The world's two largest nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, no longer have any limits on their arsenals. At midnight on Thursday, a 15-year-old treaty called New START expired, and with it caps on the number of weapons the two sides could deploy on missiles, bombers and submarines. ("New START" stands for New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.) "There are no more guardrails on the sizes of the United States and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals,""

"In a statement, the White House did not directly address the end of New START but said that President Trump "will decide the path forward on nuclear arms control, which he will clarify on his own timeline." "President Trump has spoken repeatedly of addressing the threat nuclear weapons pose to the world and indicated that he would like to keep limits on nuclear weapons and involve China in arms control talks," the White House said in its statement to NPR."

New START expired after 15 years, removing caps on weapons deployable on missiles, bombers and submarines for the United States and Russia. The treaty previously limited deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 and created notification and verification systems between the two countries. Negotiated under President Obama, New START was part of a decades-long reduction from Cold War highs near 12,000 nuclear weapons. The White House said President Trump will decide the path forward on arms control and has indicated interest in involving China. Kremlin officials warned the end of limits could make the world more dangerous.

Read at www.npr.org