NEW YORK, February 4. /TASS/. It is time for the United States to wake up and agree to Russia’s proposals regarding the Treaty between Russia and the United States on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty), Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation and President of the American Committee for US-Russia Accord, said in a comment to TASS on the upcoming expiration of New START on February 5.
"It is time to wake up. [US President Donald] Trump should make a deal with [his Russian counterpart Vladimir] Putin now to continue to abide by the New Start treaty limits," she said. "At the same time, the two leaders should agree to abide by the treaty’s verification provisions. This would buy time. Time to end the threat of nuclear war before it’s too late."
"The end of START 2 will make the US and the world less secure, lead to the unchecked expansion of US and Russian nuclear arsenals and accelerate the perilous arms race underway between the US, Russia and China. More nuclear weapons will increase the likelihood they will be used one day, whether by accident, blunder, miscalculation, mistake or intention," the expert argued. The American Committee for US-Russia Accord is based in New York.
About the treaty
The Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) was signed in 2010 and entered into force on February 5, 2011. The document stipulates that seven years after its entry into effect each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) 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 Treaty was signed for a term of ten years, until February 5, 2021, with a possibility of a further extension upon the parties’ mutual consent.
In February 2021, Moscow and Washington extended the treaty, described by the Russian authorities as the golden standard in the sphere of disarmament, for the maximal possible five years.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21, 2023 that Russia was suspending its participation in New START but was not withdrawing from it. The president stressed that before returning to the discussion of the extension of the treaty, the Russian side wanted to understand how New START will take into account not only the United States’ arsenals but also stockpiles of other NATO nuclear powers, namely the United Kingdom and France.
On September 22, 2025, Putin stated at a meeting with the Russian Security Council that Russia was prepared to continue adhering to the treaty's quantitative restrictions for another year after the New START expires in February. However, he emphasized that this measure is only viable if Washington follows suit.