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| US lawmakers welcome US-Russia agreement on arms reduction |
| Lalit K Jha/ PTI / Washington Jul 07, 2009, 09:32 IST |
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Powerful US lawmakers have welcomed the agreement reached between United States President Barack Obama, and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, on US-Russia arms reduction.
The joint understanding in this regard was signed in Moscow yesterday during Obama's ongoing visit to Russia and following his meeting with Medvedev.
Applauding Obama and Medvedev for agreeing to negotiate an arms control treaty, that will reduce the size of US and Russian arsenals, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator John Kerry, said this is a very important early step towards the non-proliferation and long-term disarmament goals that Obama set out in his April speech in Prague.
"With the START Treaty due to expire this December, it is vital that negotiations on the new treaty proceed urgently," he said.
The chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Howard L Berman, also welcomed the joint understanding issued by Obama and Medvedev on the agreed framework for a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty or START.
"This agreement is an important step forward. It is absolutely vital to our national security to preserve the gains of the START treaty and to move beyond it to even lower, safer levels of nuclear arms," said Berman.
Berman had just returned from leading a congressional delegation to Russia in advance of the President's trip. He hoped that the joint understanding is a new signpost on the road to an improved and robust US-Russia partnership.
"It is the only road we both can take for a more secure and stable world, one in which nuclear weapons stockpiles are dramatically reduced, becoming less relevant with time," he said.
The joint understanding signed by the two Presidents commits the US and Russia to reduce their strategic warheads to a range of 1500-1675, and their strategic delivery vehicles to a range of 500-1100.
Under the expiring START and the Moscow treaties, the maximum allowable levels of warheads is 2200 and the maximum allowable level of launch vehicles is 1600.
At their London meeting on April 1, Obama and Medvedev had agreed that American and Russian negotiators would begin work on a new, comprehensive, legally binding agreement on reducing and limiting strategic offensive arms to replace START.
The new treaty will include effective verification measures drawn from the experience of the Parties in implementing START, said a fact sheet issued by the White House.
The new agreement will enhance the security of both the US and Russia, as well as provide predictability and stability in strategic offensive forces.
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