UN Secretary General urged the U.S and Russia to agree on New START Arms Treaty

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The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres issued a statement that “The world will lose an invaluable brake on nuclear war”, as a landmark treaty between Moscow and Washington, which expired on Friday. The United States started withdrawing from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty in February. It bans land-based, medium-range missiles in Europe, blaming Russia of developing missiles that don’t meet the pact. It offered time to Russia until Friday to destroy those missiles, but Russia has rejected any violation of the treaty. The Russian President Vladimir Putin issued his own edict in July, to withdraw Russia from the provisions of the treaty. Now, the treaty has expired with no resolution. The UN chief has urged both countries to avoid destabilizing developments and agree on a new arms control agreement.

Guterres also said they should extend another treaty, the New START (New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), which is the last major U.S-Russia arms control pact and it will be expired in 2021. It was first signed between the United States and Russia on 31 July 1991. The bilateral treaty is an extension of the original START treaty. Guterres said the INF Treaty has expired on Friday. He mentioned it as a landmark agreement that helped to stabilize Europe and the end of the Cold War. He added that its end could increase tension and threat due to ballistic missiles.

NATO said in a statement that it had agreed on ways to prevent Russia from launching a new medium-range missile capable of a nuclear strike on Europe. NATO allies said Russia bears sole responsibility for the expiration of the INF treaty. Russia had breached the terms of the 1987 treaty by developing the nuclear-capable Novator 9M729 cruise missile. The UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab said Britain fully supports the position of NATO. Raab said on Twitter, “Russia has caused the INF Treaty to collapse by secretly developing and deploying a treaty-violating missile system which can target Europe’s capitals. Their contempt for the rules-based international system threatens European security”.