The June 16 summit in Geneva between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin — the leaders of the two largest nuclear-weapons states — is a pivotal opportunity to begin reducing the growing risk of nuclear conflict and get back on track to pare their bloated and dangerous nuclear stockpiles, which exceed any realistic requirements for deterrence.
After more than a decade of rising tensions and growing nuclear competition between the two major nuclear-weapons states, disarmament discussions have been pushed to the back burner.
Both countries are spending tens of billions of dollars a year modernizing and upgrading their massive nuclear stockpiles. Russia has wantonly violated several arms-control and nonproliferation agreements, is developing new nuclear weapons delivery systems that echo some of the worst excesses of the Cold War, and may be increasing its total warhead stockpile for the first time in decades.
Read the full op-ed, published June 14, 2021, in Just Security.