Russian president Vladimir Putin with US president Donald Trump in Alaska last August: a renewal of the US/Russia New Start treaty looks unlikely. (Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times)New Start, the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the US and Russia, will expire today, ending five decades of legally binding limits on their stockpiles of weapons. With its demise at a time of surging global instability, the world faces the real prospect of the rapid resumption of a nuclear arms race already capable of destroying the world many times over. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has suggested a year-long extension to Start . Trump’s planned Golden Dome missile defence system also threatens to diminish the deterrent effect of Russian and Chinese nuclear weapons, incentivising them to develop new systems to circumvent it.

Source: The Irish Times February 05, 2026 08:13 UTC