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

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Russian President Vladimir Putin Photo by Vyacheslav OSELEDKO / AFP.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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“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.

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“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.

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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 United States.

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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 United States.

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Beijing has publicly rejected the pressure.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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