‘Worrying trend’: Post-Cold War drop in nuclear weapons could be over

A rocket launches from missile system as part of a ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile test launched from the Plesetsk facility in north-west Russia (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP)

The world’s stockpiles of nuclear weapons are expected to rise in the coming years, reversing a decline seen since the end of the Cold War, a Swedish arms watchdog said.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute – or Sipri – said on Monday that all nine nuclear-armed countries are increasing or upgrading their arsenals.