U.S. and Russian negotiators meeting in the United Arab Emirates have agreed on the need to quickly launch new nuclear arms control talks. This follows the expiration of the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms pact between the two countries.
The treaty’s expiration ends over 50 years of formal limits on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals. There are now no caps on U.S. or Russian nuclear warheads or delivery systems. New START had limited each side to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.
Russian officials have stated they are willing to continue observing those limits temporarily. The United States, however, is pushing for a new framework that includes China, citing Beijing’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal and lack of transparency. The U.S. has accused China of covert nuclear testing, which China denies.
China has rejected joining such talks. Chinese officials state they will not enter negotiations while their nuclear arsenal remains smaller than those of the U.S. and Russia.
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