Russia says nuclear weapons the ‘only’ guarantee against global war

MOSCOW: Nuclear weapons are the “only” bulwark preventing the world from slipping into a global war, the Kremlin said Wednesday amid fears of a fresh multi-country arms race.

The last nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States, New START, expired in February, releasing restrictions on the world’s two largest nuclear powers.

There have been no signs so far of either side moving to renew or replace the accord, even though both parties agreed to re-establish high-level military talks.

Speaking at a foreign policy forum in Moscow, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the global security system was “eroding”.

“In fact, we have nothing left in this world apart from nuclear deterrence. It’s the only thing that protects the world from a global war,” he said.

“As technology is developing, it is already clear that new types of non-nuclear weapons will emerge, but they may eventually match nuclear weapons in destructive power,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly invoked nuclear rhetoric throughout his four-year offensive on Ukraine, triggering charges of reckless sabre-rattling from Europe and the US.

US President Donald Trump has pressed for a new treaty to include China, whose nuclear arsenal is growing but still far smaller than that of Russia or the US.

Beijing has publicly rejected the pressure.

Moscow says if China is brought into a new deal, then so too should Washington’s nuclear allies, Britain and France.

The expiration of New START marked the first time in decades that there has not been a treaty in force to curtail the deployment of nuclear weapons.

Signed in 2010, it was the last in a series of Cold War-era arms control agreements, restricting Moscow and Washington to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each.

Before it lapsed, both countries repeatedly accused each other of failing to adhere to the deal.