UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the expiration of the New START treaty, which limits the strategic nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States, is a dark moment for international security and peace, and urged the two sides to agree as soon as possible on a new framework for controlling weapons of mass destruction, Reuters reported.
New START, which expired at midnight, limits the number of nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, as well as the missiles and bombers designed to deliver a nuclear strike.
"For the first time in more than half a century, we face a world without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States – "the two countries that hold the vast majority of the world's nuclear weapons," Guterres wrote in a statement. He noted that the loss of decades of arms control achievements "could not come at a worse time" and warned that the threat of nuclear weapons use has never been greater in decades.
But the UN secretary-general said there was now an opportunity to "reset and build an arms control regime that is responsive to the rapidly evolving situation."
Guterres also welcomed the need expressed by the leaders of both countries to prevent the uncontrolled spread of nuclear weapons.
"The world now expects Russia and the United States to turn words into action," he said. "I call on both parties to immediately return to the negotiating table and agree on a new framework", the UN Secretary-General concluded.