This would eliminate mutual inspections, deepen mistrust, spur a nuclear arms race, and heighten the possibility of a nuclear exchange.Īs UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in August, the world has entered “a time of nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.” Unless the two parties resume negotiations and find a basis for further reductions, the treaty will expire in February 2026.
(Editor's note: This picture was taken during a media trip organized by the Russian army.) Photo by Andrey Borodulin/AFP via Getty ImagesĪs Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty between Russia and the United States, New START, stands in jeopardy. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine is Europe's largest and among the 10 largest in the world. Efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency to secure these plants so far have been rebuffed.Ī Russian serviceman patrols the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on May 1, 2022. Russia has also brought its war to the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor sites, violating international protocols and risking widespread release of radioactive materials. In 1994, Russia joined the United States and United Kingdom in Budapest, Hungary, to solemnly declare that it would "respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine" and "refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine." These assurances were made explicitly on the understanding that Ukraine would relinquish nuclear weapons on its soil and sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty-both of which Ukraine did.
Russia’s recent actions contravene decades of commitments by Moscow. The possibility that the conflict could spin out of anyone’s control remains high. Also, Russia’s war on Ukraine has raised profound questions about how states interact, eroding norms of international conduct that underpin successful responses to a variety of global risks.Īnd worst of all, Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of the conflict-by accident, intention, or miscalculation-is a terrible risk. The war in Ukraine may enter a second horrifying year, with both sides convinced they can win. Ukraine’s sovereignty and broader European security arrangements that have largely held since the end of World War II are at stake. The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight-the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been. This year, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward, largely (though not exclusively) because of the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine.
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