On 5 February 2026, the last nuclear arms control treaty between the USA and Russian Federation, New START, which has limited the nuclear arms race – albeit completely inadequately – will expire. There is a danger of an unrestrained arms race, including a nuclear arms race, with far-reaching political, strategic, economic and psychological consequences, leading to even greater confrontation and destabilisation of the already volatile international situation.
It is still possible to avert an escalation of the confrontation between the two ‘nuclear superpowers’, including a nuclear confrontation, and to take steps towards nuclear disarmament. In our view, the more than 9,000 nuclear weapons currently in the US and Russian arsenals are 9,000 too many.
Despite Russian suspension of New START in 2023, it has maintained its arsenal level and not gone beyond the limits of the treaty. In late 2025, Russia proposed a one-year extension, though the US has yet to publicly respond.
The IPB urgently appeals to the presidents of Russia and the US: extend the New START Treaty immediately by one year and begin negotiations on steps towards further nuclear disarmament.
This is the only way to prevent an unforeseeable escalation into an unrestrained nuclear arms race, which would further increase the risk of the destruction of human civilisation, and the spread of nuclear weapons.
We urge US and Russian leaders to remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by nuclear tests, and act in the spirit of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto: either we abolish nuclear weapons, or one day they will abolish our world.