10 June 2009

July Moscow Summit Seeks to Reduce Nuclear Arsenals, June 10, 2009

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev committed to reducing their nuclear arsenals through a proposed arms reduction treaty that would take effect late this year.

As owners of more than 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, the United States and Russia will lead by example, Obama said after a meeting with Medvedev in early April. They will take concrete steps toward the long-term goal of disarmament, while sending a powerful message to countries such as North Korea and Iran, whose controversial nuclear development programs are currently subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions and expanded scrutiny.

Obama and Medvedev said during bilateral talks in London that they wanted to see a first draft of a treaty that will replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-I) by the time they meet again July 6–8 in Moscow before the Group of Eight (G8) Summit two days later in Italy.

Their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit represented the culmination of weeks of intensive diplomacy by the new administration to “press the reset button” on U.S.-Russian relations. The two leaders issued a joint statement that set out a broad new U.S.-Russian agenda, aimed at moving beyond reset and toward turning “warm words into actual achievements.”

In addition to arms control and nuclear nonproliferation, Obama and Medvedev identified several other top priorities, including efforts to address the global economic crisis, international efforts to stabilize South Asia and support progress toward Middle East peace, continued diplomatic cooperation in confronting Iran and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, and promoting the safe use of nuclear energy. Future meetings will include discussion of transnational threats such as terrorism, organized crime, corruption and drug trafficking, as well as ways to strengthen U.S.-Russian economic ties and cultural exchanges.

ARMS REDUCTION

The proposed replacement for START-I, which is set to expire December 5, could further shrink U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to 1,500 warheads apiece or lower, down from current levels above 2,200 warheads, say arms control experts, as well as make comparable reductions in ballistic missiles and submarines that are used to deliver the weapons.

START-I is a bilateral agreement between the United States and the former Soviet Union, signed July 31, 1991, at the end of the Cold War, that limits both nations to no more than 6,000 strategic or long-range nuclear warheads, and limits the number of delivery vehicles — bombers, land-based missiles and submarine-launched missiles — to 1,600 each.

START-I significantly decreased nuclear weapons by establishing a complex monitoring system limiting both sides’ use of nuclear warheads. Further cuts were made to approximately 2,200 nuclear warheads by 2012, under the less restrictive 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, known as the Moscow Treaty. U.S. and Russian critics long have called for a return to the original, legally binding START framework.

The United States has approximately 2,200 strategic nuclear warheads and Russia has approximately 2,800 strategic nuclear warheads, and both sides want further substantial reductions.

NUCLEAR-FREE AGENDA

The proposed new arms-reduction treaty is seen as a first step toward a nuclear-free agenda proposed by Obama and Medvedev.

“We will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy and urge others to do the same,” Obama said in an April 5 speech in Hradcanske Square outside the medieval Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. “To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year.”

“As much as the constant cloud, the threat of nuclear warfare has receded since the Cold War … the presence of these deadly weapons, their proliferation, the possibility of them finding their way into the hands of terrorists, continues to be the gravest threat to humanity,” Obama said April 1 in London. “What better project to start off than seeing if we can make progress on that front?”

At the U.S.-European Union Summit in Prague, Obama said he and Medvedev will seek to include all nuclear weapons states in the process of reducing arsenals.

“To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, my administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. After more than five decades of talks, it is time for the testing of nuclear weapons to finally be banned,” Obama said.

Obama said that if the world is serious about halting the spread of nuclear weapons, then it must also be equally serious about stopping the production of weapons-grade materials used to create them. “Together we will strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a basis for cooperation,” the president said.

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