UNITED NATIONS, March 18. /TASS/. Russia and the United States should resume compliance with the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START), UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at an open debate in the Security Council on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

"This reduction must be led by the holders of the largest nuclear arsenals, the United States and the Russian Federation, who must find a way back to the negotiating table to fully implement the New START Treaty and agree on its successor," he said.

Guterres warned that nuclear weapons, destructive and "capable of eliminating all life on earth," were becoming more powerful.

"An accidental launch is one mistake, one miscalculation, one rash act away. And ultimately, all of humanity will pay the price. A nuclear war must never be waged - because a nuclear war can never be won," he stated.

The UN secretary-general emphasized: "There is one path - and one path only - that will vanquish this senseless and suicidal shadow, once and for all. We need disarmament now," Guterres pointed out. This requires resuming the dialogue between countries, stopping "nuclear saber-rattling," reaffirming moratoria on nuclear testing, and reducing the number of nuclear weapons. "Disarmament commitments must become action. We need a joint first-use agreement. Nuclear weapon states must urgently agree that none of them will be the first to use nuclear weapons," Guterres stressed.

New START

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21, 2023, that Moscow was suspending its participation in New START, but not withdrawing from it altogether. He emphasized that before it might resume the discussion of continuing activities under the treaty Russia should have clarity how the New START treaty would take into account the arsenals of not only the United States but also of other NATO nuclear powers - Britain and France.

The treaty between the United States and Russia on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) was signed in 2010 and took effect on February 5, 2011.

The document stipulated that seven years after its entry into force each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and strategic bombers, as well as no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers.

The 10-year treaty was to expire on February 5, 2021, but its terms provided for the possibility of its extension by mutual agreement. In February 2021, Moscow and Washington extended the agreement, which Moscow called the gold standard in the field of disarmament, for the maximum possible period of five years.