Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the impending expiration of the New START nuclear arms control treaty could alarm the world, as it would leave the United States and Russia without limits on their strategic nuclear arsenals for the first time in decades.
The treaty, signed in 2010 and set to expire this week, remains the last remaining agreement capping deployments of long-range, high-yield nuclear weapons between the two powers.
Medvedev said allowing the treaty to lapse without any framework to replace it would heighten global danger, even if it does not immediately lead to war.
“I don’t want to say that this immediately means a catastrophe and a nuclear war will begin, but it should still alarm everyone,” he said in an interview with Reuters and other outlets.
He added that the symbolic Doomsday Clock would inevitably move closer to midnight if no understanding follows.
The New START agreement limited each side to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and included verification measures intended to sustain mutual trust.
Russian officials have said Moscow proposed voluntarily adhering to the limits for an additional year, but they have received no official response from Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated he is prepared to let the treaty expire, saying that if it does, “We’ll just do a better agreement.”
The United States has also argued that China should be included in future arms control talks, an idea Beijing has rejected.
Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said arms control agreements historically helped prevent miscalculation between nuclear powers.
“When there is an agreement, it means there is trust but when there is no agreement, it means that trust has been exhausted,” he said.
Russia suspended its participation in New START in 2023, citing U.S. support for Ukraine.
Despite strained relations since the conflict in Ukraine began, Medvedev said contacts with Washington have improved since Trump’s return to the White House.
He emphasized that Moscow is not seeking a global conflict, while also highlighting expanded Russian defense production and the need to keep pace in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence.