15 November 2009

United States, Russia Close to New Arms Control Treaty

President Obama speaks to reporters as he meets with Russia’s President Medvedev on the sidelines of the APEC forum in Singapore.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — President Obama held consultations with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the 17th annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Singapore, and their talks focused on two areas: a new arms control treaty and what to do about efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Since their first meetings in London and later Moscow, Obama and Medvedev have agreed on the urgent need to reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear arms stockpiles. Negotiators from both nations have been working feverishly on a replacement treaty for the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I, which expires December 5.

A senior national security adviser, Mike McFaul, told reporters at a press briefing in Singapore November 15 that because the START treaty expires within a few weeks, a bridge agreement will have to be adopted until the final accord is reached and approved by the U.S. Senate and the Russian Duma.

At the Moscow Summit in July, Obama and Medvedev agreed to reduce the number of nuclear warheads each possesses to a range of 1,500 to 1,675 over seven years. The treaty would also limit the means of delivery, which includes submarines, long-range bombers and intercontinental missiles. Intercontinental ballistic missiles can also be used to deliver non-nuclear warheads over the same distances, and that has been one of several technical areas of discussion.

START I was signed July 31, 1991, between Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush; President Ronald Reagan had proposed the treaty in 1982. It limits nuclear warheads to about 6,000 in each arsenal.

In 2002, the United States and Russia agreed to the Moscow Treaty that sought to reduce nuclear arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 operationally deployed warheads by 2012.

“Our goal continues to be to complete the negotiations and to be able to sign a deal before the end of the year,” Obama said November 15 at a joint press conference with Medvedev. “And I very much feel as if both sides are trying to work through some difficult technical issues but are doing so in good faith.”

In Prague earlier this year Obama called for a nuclear-free world, and he pledged to work for greater arms control and nonproliferation goals.

The new treaty comes at a time when Washington is enlisting Moscow’s support in curbing the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran. The United States and Russia participate in talks aimed at convincing both regimes to give up weapons and long-range missile development programs in return for greater economic and political incentives.

START negotiations are being held in Geneva and are led by Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller and Russian negotiator Anatoly Antonov. They have been working to resolve remaining differences in areas of offensive weapons levels and missile defense issues.

“We’ve talked a lot about the future START treaty and limitations of offensive weapons,” Russian President Medvedev said alongside Obama. “We’ve agreed to give additional impetus to those negotiations, find solutions on remaining issues, because in some cases those are technical issues. Some require political solution — but that is precisely why we discuss matters on level of the president.”

IRAN’S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS

On Iran, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia — along with Germany have been working with assistance from the European Union to convince Iran to end its nuclear weapons development program. Recently the group proposed to ship Iran’s uranium to Russia for further processing as fuel for use in Tehran’s research reactor. The reactor is used for Iran’s energy and medical programs.

“In my first meeting with President Medvedev I emphasized to him our desire to try to resolve the issue of Iran’s nuclear capacity in a constructive fashion, and it was my strong belief that if countries like the United States and Russia were able to present two paths, two roads to the Islamic Republic of Iran, one that led to further integration, the ability to obtain peaceful nuclear energy, but an insistence on Iran forsaking nuclear weapons, that that would be the most positive outcome,” Obama told reporters.

“Unfortunately, so far at least Iran appears to have been unable to say yes to what everyone acknowledges is a creative and constructive approach,” he said.

The second path offers further potential sanctions.

“We believe that the United States and Russia will continue to urge Iran to take the path that leads them to meeting its international obligations,” Obama said. “We can’t count on that, and we will begin to discuss and prepare for these other pathways.”

Medvedev said he hopes the joint efforts will convince Iran to pursue peaceful uses of its nuclear program.

“We’re prepared to work further and I hope that our joint work will yield in positive results,” Medvedev said. “In case we fail, the other options remain on the table in order to move the process in a different direction.”

“Our goal is clear: It is transparent, up-to-date, peaceful program — not a program that would raise questions or concerns from the international community,” he said.