Expiry of nuclear treaty should alarm the world, says Dmitry Medvedev
The US has suggested that China, the world's third largest nuclear power by number of warheads, should join arms control talks. Beijing has indicated no willingness to join
 "Expiry of nuclear treaty should alarm the world, says Dmitry Medvedev")
Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev has warned of the danger of letting the last US-Russian nuclear arms control treaty expire this week without any understanding of what comes next, suggesting it would speed up the “Doomsday Clock”.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010 by US President Barack Obama and Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, limited the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 on each side. It is due to expire on February 5, barring a last-minute understanding between Moscow and Washington.
US President Donald Trump has indicated he will let the treaty expire without accepting an offer from Moscow to voluntarily extend its caps on deployments of strategic nuclear weapons - powerful arms with a long range and high yield.
“I don’t want to say that this (letting the treaty expire) immediately means a catastrophe and a nuclear war will begin, but it should still alarm everyone,” Medvedev told Reuters, TASS and Russian war blogger WarGonzo in an interview.
“The clocks are ticking and they obviously have to speed up,” he said, referring to the symbolic “Doomsday Clock” gauging the likelihood of a man-made catastrophe destroying the world.
The US has suggested that China, the world’s third largest nuclear power by number of warheads, should join arms control talks. Beijing has indicated no willingness to join.