Decision of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko adopted on 2 December 2025, published on 12 December 2025

The system of restraining nuclear arms race created in the 20th century is collapsing.

Less than three months remain until the extended Russian-American Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) expires. The possibility of extending it again is not provided for in the treaty’s terms (Article 14, Paragraph 2) and would require political will and agreement from both parties, neither of which is currently observed. The prospects of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) entering into full force in the foreseeable future is equally dim.

The unleashing of a nuclear arms race unconstrained by international treaties will stimulate the desire to resume full-scale testing to verify the effectiveness of nuclear weapons. This will undermine the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which is closely linked to the CTBT.

The proliferation of nuclear weapons will reduce the level of security and safety of weapons-grade nuclear materials and technologies, will facilitate their uncontrolled spread, increase the number of nuclear-armed states, and enable terrorists to gain access to them. Ultimately, their accidental or deliberate use in international and domestic conflicts will become virtually inevitable – the only question will be where and when.

The choice facing the world is either to await an inevitable nuclear catastrophe or to begin work now to prevent it, whilst understanding that the multipolarity of the modern world creates even more complex conditions and requirements for a nuclear weapons control system than existed previously, when a significant portion of these problems could be resolved primarily by two superpowers.

The Yabloko party considers it essential to:

– immediately adopt new mutual commitments by Russia and the USA not to exceed the arms ceilings established under New START;

– resume dialogue between Russia and the USA on strategic stability, subsequently bringing other nuclear states into it;

– preserve the CTBT and NPT and strengthen their operational regimes;

– further expand nuclear-weapon-free zones.

Preventing nuclear catastrophe requires preserving and developing international mechanisms for nuclear weapons control. However, it must be understood that this is only possible on condition that an agreement on a ceasefire and peaceful settlement is signed between Russia and Ukraine – as the foundation for a renewed system of European and global security.

Grigory Yavlinsky,

Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko