New START Treaty Expires as Trump Seeks China's Inclusion

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the final bilateral agreement limiting the nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia, expired on February 5, 2026. The pact had capped deployed strategic warheads at 1,550 and delivery systems at 700 to 800 per side. Its collapse removes the last formal constraints on the world's two largest nuclear powers, a development UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a "grave moment for international peace and security."

Donald Trump declined a proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin to informally extend the treaty's quantitative limits for one year, characterizing the 2010 deal as a "badly negotiated deal" that was "being grossly violated." Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that any modernized replacement must include China to address Beijing's rapidly growing stockpile. The Government of China has repeatedly rejected these trilateral negotiations, arguing its nuclear capabilities are not on the same scale as those of the U.S. and Russia.

Following the expiration, the Government of the Russian Federation declared that both parties are no longer bound by the treaty's obligations. However, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Russia would continue to observe the numerical limits provided the United States does the same. Amid the tension, U.S. and Russian officials met in Abu Dhabi, where they agreed to reestablish high-level military-to-military dialogue and negotiated a non-binding arrangement to operate in good faith for at least six months while discussing a potential updated deal.