Experts are raising the alarm as the final remaining nuclear arms treaty between the US and Russia has now expired.
For the first time in over half a century the countries are without any treaty to prohibit them from building on their nuclear weapon stash.
This has sparked new fears that tensions between the rival nations could continue to grow, with the lift on nuclear bans adding more fuel to the fire.
The last treaty expired today (February 5), which was a legally-binding agreement between the US and Russia which limited the nations to no more than 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 delivery systems.
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The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which was commonly referred to as New START, was signed into law on April 8, 2010, and was originally due to expire in February 2021 before being extended until 2026.
Now though, the treaty has come to an end and a lot of people are worried about what this could mean for peace between the US and Russia.
Many experts have reacted to the news, with Vasily Kashin, who is a research fellow at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, saying to Sky News: “It’s a serious situation, probably now we can witness a lot of developments, especially in the US nuclear policy, and the situation will be quite unpredictable.
“There is a real danger of a nuclear arms race in the coming years.”
Many people have taken to social media to share their own reactions to the treaty expiring.
One user said on Reddit: “Like a piece of paper stopped them anyway.”
Another wrote: “I am amazed there is still human life on this planet. Our fascination for weapons of mass destruction is very weird. “If you kill me, I’m going to kill you too” sounds like schoolyard bullies who never grew up. Imagine the money that has been spent on these things for eighty years. What a waste of resources and minds. And all so we can destroy each other in a ball of flame that will kill everything but the cockroaches.”
A third person commented: “Call me a pessimist but I have no faith in either the US or Russia leaderships following through any treaty anyway.”
And a fourth added: “America is gonna be 40 trillion in debt soon, Russia’s economy is on the brink of collapse. Nukes are expensive. Both have enough nukes to blow up the world several times over.”