New talks for further nuke reduction likely to begin as early as Jan.
Oct. 20, 2010
by Masakatsu Ota
The United States expects a new U.S.-Russia accord on nuclear arms reduction signed in April to be ratified by the end of this year and a new bilateral consultation for further nuclear disarmament to start as early as the beginning of next year, a chief U.S. negotiator said Monday.
''I'm very optimistic about this treaty being ratified, and the (U.S.) President has always been clear that he would like for it to be ratified by the end of the year,'' said Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary of State in charge of arms control, verification and compliance, in an exclusive interview with Kyodo News.
Gottemoeller said the United States and Russia both agreed that getting the new accord ratified and entered into force was their first priority.
''But, we are already thinking about how to work with (Russia) immediately, after that ratification process is completed, to consult very seriously on the next stage of reductions,'' she said, adding that the process of consultation would start as early as the beginning of next year, assuming that the accord will be ratified and enter into force at the end of this year.
U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed the new treaty in early April to implement significant cuts to their deployed nuclear warheads, replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START 1. Gottemoeller is one of the key architects of the New START Treaty.
The U.S. government has submitted proposals to its legislature but the treaty ratification process has been delayed due to strong concerns over its possible impact on future operation of the U.S. Missile Defense system.
Several Republican senators have expressed such concerns as Russia has made a unilateral statement saying that any substantial expansion of Washington's missile shield could trigger Moscow's withdrawal from the accord.
Noting that there were three Republicans joining the Democratic majority to vote in favor of the treaty in a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 16, Gottemoeller said she expected that the ratification process would take place during the so-called ''lame-duck session'' after the mid-term elections for the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in November.
Ratification of the treaty requires a two-thirds majority in the 100-seat Senate, where Democrats have 59 seats including Democrat-leaning independents. After receiving the Senate's ''advice and consent,'' the U.S. President can ratify the treaty.
''We are planning to work very intensively with the Senate when they return from the election period...get their 'advice and consent' so that the President can ratify the treaty by the end of the year,'' she added.
As for the next arms reduction process, the U.S. chief negotiator emphasized that the two countries were ready to proceed with a ''step-by-step'' approach and extend the process to ''a multilateral approach'' to include other nuclear powers, as stated in the preamble to the treaty.
Specific priorities for the next process will include ''tactical nuclear weapons or, as we say, 'non-strategic nuclear weapons,' and non-deployed nuclear weapons, weapons that are in storage facilities,'' Gottemoeller said.
Short-ranged tactical nuclear weapons and non-deployed weapons have been outside the scope of bilateral treaties signed by the two nuclear powers in the past.
According to nuclear experts, verification measures for non-deployed nukes in storage would be a key challenge for a new treaty.
Gottemoeller admitted that implementing verification procedures and technologies is ''a difficult job'' at this point, but her country has ''some experience'' in this field as it has been ''thinking about it for many years with some technologies and procedures in mind,'' and she thinks that such experience would help the two countries to form the new negotiations.
Once the new treaty comes into effect after ratification, both sides will have to reduce within seven years their nuclear warheads on deployed missiles and bombers to 1,550 each, down from 6,000 under START 1, which expired in December, and between 1,700 and 2,200 under the 2002 strategic offensive reductions treaty, commonly known as the Moscow Treaty.
Aside from limiting the number of warheads, the new treaty sets the ceiling on the number of launchers to 800, half of the 1,600 allowed under START 1, and also restricts the number of deployed nuclear delivery systems to 700.
According to a U.S. think-tank, the Federation of American Scientists, as of May 2010, the number of operational nuclear warheads was estimated at 2,468 from a total stock of 9,600 for the United States, while Russia possessed 4,650 operational warheads from a total stock of 12,000.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Oct. 20, 2010)
The United States expects a new U.S.-Russia accord on nuclear arms reduction signed in April to be ratified by the end of this year and a new bilateral consultation for further nuclear disarmament to start as early as the beginning of next year, a chief U.S. negotiator said Monday.
''I'm very optimistic about this treaty being ratified, and the (U.S.) President has always been clear that he would like for it to be ratified by the end of the year,'' said Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary of State in charge of arms control, verification and compliance, in an exclusive interview with Kyodo News.
Gottemoeller said the United States and Russia both agreed that getting the new accord ratified and entered into force was their first priority.
''But, we are already thinking about how to work with (Russia) immediately, after that ratification process is completed, to consult very seriously on the next stage of reductions,'' she said, adding that the process of consultation would start as early as the beginning of next year, assuming that the accord will be ratified and enter into force at the end of this year.
U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed the new treaty in early April to implement significant cuts to their deployed nuclear warheads, replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START 1. Gottemoeller is one of the key architects of the New START Treaty.
The U.S. government has submitted proposals to its legislature but the treaty ratification process has been delayed due to strong concerns over its possible impact on future operation of the U.S. Missile Defense system.
Several Republican senators have expressed such concerns as Russia has made a unilateral statement saying that any substantial expansion of Washington's missile shield could trigger Moscow's withdrawal from the accord.
Noting that there were three Republicans joining the Democratic majority to vote in favor of the treaty in a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 16, Gottemoeller said she expected that the ratification process would take place during the so-called ''lame-duck session'' after the mid-term elections for the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in November.
Ratification of the treaty requires a two-thirds majority in the 100-seat Senate, where Democrats have 59 seats including Democrat-leaning independents. After receiving the Senate's ''advice and consent,'' the U.S. President can ratify the treaty.
''We are planning to work very intensively with the Senate when they return from the election period...get their 'advice and consent' so that the President can ratify the treaty by the end of the year,'' she added.
As for the next arms reduction process, the U.S. chief negotiator emphasized that the two countries were ready to proceed with a ''step-by-step'' approach and extend the process to ''a multilateral approach'' to include other nuclear powers, as stated in the preamble to the treaty.
Specific priorities for the next process will include ''tactical nuclear weapons or, as we say, 'non-strategic nuclear weapons,' and non-deployed nuclear weapons, weapons that are in storage facilities,'' Gottemoeller said.
Short-ranged tactical nuclear weapons and non-deployed weapons have been outside the scope of bilateral treaties signed by the two nuclear powers in the past.
According to nuclear experts, verification measures for non-deployed nukes in storage would be a key challenge for a new treaty.
Gottemoeller admitted that implementing verification procedures and technologies is ''a difficult job'' at this point, but her country has ''some experience'' in this field as it has been ''thinking about it for many years with some technologies and procedures in mind,'' and she thinks that such experience would help the two countries to form the new negotiations.
Once the new treaty comes into effect after ratification, both sides will have to reduce within seven years their nuclear warheads on deployed missiles and bombers to 1,550 each, down from 6,000 under START 1, which expired in December, and between 1,700 and 2,200 under the 2002 strategic offensive reductions treaty, commonly known as the Moscow Treaty.
Aside from limiting the number of warheads, the new treaty sets the ceiling on the number of launchers to 800, half of the 1,600 allowed under START 1, and also restricts the number of deployed nuclear delivery systems to 700.
According to a U.S. think-tank, the Federation of American Scientists, as of May 2010, the number of operational nuclear warheads was estimated at 2,468 from a total stock of 9,600 for the United States, while Russia possessed 4,650 operational warheads from a total stock of 12,000.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Oct. 20, 2010)
