UN Chief Warns of Nuclear Peril as New START Treaty Expires Tonight

He called on Russia and the United States to return to the negotiating table and agree on a successor framework that restores verifiable limits, reduces risks, and strengthens collective security.

In an official statement on Thursday, Guterres said, "The expiration of the New START Treaty, as of midnight today, marks a grave moment for international peace and security. For the first time in more than half a century, we face a world without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals of the Russian Federation and the United States of America - the two States that possess the overwhelming majority of the global stockpile of nuclear weapons."

He underlined how, throughout the Cold War and in its aftermath, nuclear arms control between these governments helped prevent catastrophe.

"It built stability and, when combined with other measures, prevented devastating miscalculation. Most importantly, it facilitated the reduction of thousands of nuclear weapons from national arsenals. From Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) to New START, strategic arms control drastically improved the security of all peoples, not least the populations of the United States and Russian Federation", he said.

The statement further noted, "This dissolution of decades of achievement could not come at a worse time - the risk of a nuclear weapon being used is the highest in decades. Yet even in this moment of uncertainty, we must search for hope.This is an opportunity to reset and create an arms control regime fit for a rapidly evolving context. I welcome that the Presidents of both States have made clear that they appreciate the destabilizing impact of a nuclear arms race and the need to prevent the return to a world of unchecked nuclear proliferation."

He said that the world looks to Russia and the US to translate words into action.

"I urge both States to return to the negotiating table without delay and to agree upon a successor framework that restores verifiable limits, reduces risks, and strengthens our common security", the statement said.

Al Jazeera reported that New START limits the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons, or those designed to hit an adversary's key political, military and industrial centers.

The treaty, which was signed in 2010, will expire on Thursday.

The treaty was a 10-year agreement signed by former US President Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, who served a single term as Russia's president from 2008 to 2012. It came into effect in 2011. The treaty was extended in 2021 for five more years after Joe Biden took office.

- ANI