SALT / START Arms Reduction Treaties

SALT/START · Opened: 1972 · 2 parties

A series of bilateral US–Soviet/Russian treaties that reduced nuclear arsenals from ~70,000 warheads at Cold War peak to ~5,000 today. New START suspended by Russia in 2023.

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SALT/STARTAbbreviation

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1972Year

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2Parties

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New START Suspended (2023)Status

01 Overview

The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I, 1972; SALT II, 1979) and Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START I, 1991; START II, 1993; New START, 2010) represent the most significant nuclear disarmament achievements in history. At their Cold War peak, the USA and USSR together possessed over 70,000 nuclear warheads. Through successive treaties, this was reduced to around 5,000 combined deployed strategic warheads by 2023. New START (2010) limited each side to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads. In February 2023, Russia suspended its participation in New START, citing Western support for Ukraine, leaving no arms control treaty between the world's two largest nuclear arsenals for the first time since 1972.

02 Key Provisions

§SALT I (1972): First limits on ICBMs and SLBMs

§START I (1991): Required actual destruction of weapons

§New START (2010): 1,550 deployed strategic warheads each

§Verification through on-site inspections and telemetry exchange

§Russia suspended New START participation Feb 2023

03 Why It Matters

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These treaties represent the largest verified reduction of nuclear weapons in history - from ~70,000 warheads globally to around 12,000 today. The collapse of New START leaves the two largest arsenals without agreed limits or verification mechanisms for the first time since 1972.