The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) expires in weeks. A simple extension could preserve limits on US and Russian nuclear arsenals and buy time for deeper cuts.

There is still just enough time for Presidents Trump and Putin to extend the only remaining disarmament treaty that imposes limits on their strategic nuclear arsenals, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which is set to expire on 5 February 2026 – just three weeks from now.

To do so, they would simply need to agree to continue abiding by the New START limits of 1550 warheads, 700 delivery vehicles and 800 launchers. As Trump asserted in July, “this is not an agreement you want expiring” and, in September, Putin announced that Russia is “prepared to continue adhering to the central quantitative restrictions” of New START for another year after its expiration, if the US “acts in a similar spirit”. Trump responded that “it sounds like a good idea to me,” but has done nothing.

The Treaty currently remains in force, although Putin stopped its implementation in 2023 because of US support for Ukraine and the US responded in kind. What this means in practice is that, although they continue to abide by their agreed-upon limits, the US and Russia no longer exchange New START data or notification on movement of their strategic nuclear forces. As well, the Treaty’s short-notice, on-site inspections, paused during Covid, have not resumed.

As Lavrov recently confirmed, this extension requires no negotiations. All that is........

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