New U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty to take effect on Sat.
Feb. 3, 2011
A new U.S.-Russia treaty on nuclear arms reduction will come into effect Saturday, the State Department said Tuesday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will exchange instruments of ratification for the new pact on Saturday, making the treaty enter into force, it said.
Clinton and Lavrov are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to be held in Germany, the department added.
Under the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, the United States and Russia will have to reduce within seven years their nuclear warheads on deployed missiles and bombers to 1,550 each, the lowest level since the two super-nuclear powers began arms reduction talks.
The new START will also set the ceiling on the number of launchers to 800 each.
''A responsible partnership between the world's two largest nuclear powers to limit our nuclear arsenals while maintaining strategic stability is imperative to promoting global security,'' the department said in a statement, suggesting that Washington will hold on to nuclear weapons despite U.S. President Barack Obama's pledge to seek a world without nuclear weapons.
The new pact will replace the 1991 arms reduction accord, or START I, which expired in December 2009.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Feb. 1, 2011)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will exchange instruments of ratification for the new pact on Saturday, making the treaty enter into force, it said.
Clinton and Lavrov are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to be held in Germany, the department added.
Under the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, the United States and Russia will have to reduce within seven years their nuclear warheads on deployed missiles and bombers to 1,550 each, the lowest level since the two super-nuclear powers began arms reduction talks.
The new START will also set the ceiling on the number of launchers to 800 each.
''A responsible partnership between the world's two largest nuclear powers to limit our nuclear arsenals while maintaining strategic stability is imperative to promoting global security,'' the department said in a statement, suggesting that Washington will hold on to nuclear weapons despite U.S. President Barack Obama's pledge to seek a world without nuclear weapons.
The new pact will replace the 1991 arms reduction accord, or START I, which expired in December 2009.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Feb. 1, 2011)
