Last US-Russia nuclear treaty is expiring: Does it really matter?

"New START was an extension of earlier treaties. START I, which reduced the number of strategic warheads in deployment in both the US and Russia, was signed between the US and the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War in 1991 and was in place until 2009. START II, which aimed to further reduce the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and remove multiwarhead intercontinental ballistic missiles altogether, was signed in 1993 but never entered into force. Russia formally withdrew from it in 2002."

"New START was extended in 2021 for five more years after US President Joe Biden took office. The treaty states that it can only be extended once. The treaty limits the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons, those designed to hit an adversary's key political, military and industrial centres. Deployed weapons or warheads are those in active service and available for rapid use as opposed to those that are in storage or awaiting dismantlement. Under the agreement, Moscow and Washington are committed to the following: Deploying no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads and a maximum of"

New START, signed in 2010 and in force since 2011, renewed Cold War-era limits on US and Russian strategic arsenals and replaced earlier treaties such as START I, START II (which never entered into force), and SORT. The treaty was extended once in 2021 for five years and allows only a single extension. It caps deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550 and limits deployed delivery systems, defines deployed versus stored weapons, and embeds verification measures including monitoring and inspections. Its expiration would remove numerical ceilings and reduce mutual transparency, increasing strategic uncertainty between Washington and Moscow.

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