Russia responds amid New START expiration, global concern rises over nuclear arms limits

Russia said on Wednesday it was open to security talks but would resolutely counter any new threats after the lapse of the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the U.S.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) expired at midnight on Thursday February 5, marking the end of over half a century of limits on both sides' strategic nuclear armaments. Moscow said the U.S. had not responded to President Vladimir Putin's proposal to keep observing the missile and warhead limits for another 12 months.

"Essentially, our ideas are being deliberately ignored. This (U.S.) approach appears mistaken and regrettable," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

While criticizing the U.S. stance, the Russian statement struck a balance between assertiveness and restraint.

Russia remains ready to take decisive military-technical measures to counter potential additional threats to national security, the ministry said.

At the same time, it was "open to exploring political and diplomatic avenues for comprehensive stabilization of the strategic situation based on equitable and mutually beneficial dialogue solutions, should the appropriate conditions for such interaction emerge."

The ministry stated that it assumes parties to the New START between Russia and the United States are no longer bound by any obligations in the context of the deal.

"In the current circumstances, we assume that the parties to the New START are no longer bound by any obligations or symmetrical declarations in the context of the treaty, including its core provisions, and are in principle free to choose their next steps," the ministry said in a statement.

With the clock ticking towards the treaty's expiry, Pope Leo urged both sides earlier on Wednesday not to abandon the limits set in the treaty.

"I issue an urgent appeal not to let this instrument lapse," the first U.S.-born pope said at his weekly audience. "It is more urgent than ever to replace the logic of fear and distrust with a shared ethic, capable of guiding choices toward the common good."

Matt Korda, associate director for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, said that if there were no agreement to extend the treaty's key provisions, neither Russia nor the United States would be constrained if they wanted to add yet more warheads.

"Without the treaty, each side will be free to upload hundreds of additional warheads onto their deployed missiles and heavy bombers, roughly doubling the sizes of their currently deployed arsenals in the most maximalist scenario," he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on February 4 called the expiration of the New START a grave moment for international peace and security and urged Russia and the United States to negotiate a new nuclear arms control framework without delay.

"For the first time in more than half a century, we face a world without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals of the Russian Federation and the United States of America – the two States that possess the overwhelming majority of the global stockpile of nuclear weapons,” Guterres said in a statement.

There was no immediate response from the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in January that he was not concerned about the treaty's impending expiration and expressed hope that the two sides would reach a new agreement.

The White House said this week that Trump would decide the way forward on nuclear arms control, which he would "clarify on his own timeline."

(With input from agencies)