23 November 2009

U.S. and Russian Negotiators Cutting Nuclear Weapons, Launchers

Podcast on U.S.-Russian arms control issues

Presidents Obama and Medvedev met in Moscow in July 2009 to sign the Joint Understanding for the START Follow-on Treaty.

President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in April to reduce nuclear arsenals below the levels called for in the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a press conference October 13 in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the United States and Russia are making progress in replacing the current treaty and easing perceived tensions over nuclear weapons.

Clinton said she is looking forward to Russia’s leadership in the Global Nuclear Security Summit next April, and that the global initiative to secure vulnerable nuclear materials is another important joint endeavor. Lavrov agreed that the technical negotiating teams working on the successor agreement to START I have shown “considerable progress.”

President Obama has said that the world’s two leading nuclear powers must lead by example. Obama and Medvedev signed a joint understanding to reduce nuclear warheads and the means to deliver them by up to a third from current levels. Between them, the U.S. and Russia own more than 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.

The mutual agreement to reduce nuclear arsenals is part of a broader goal of reducing nuclear tensions across the globe and preventing rogue states and extremists from obtaining some of the world’s most dangerous weapons. Obama and Medvedev said they wanted to 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 subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions and expanded scrutiny.

The United States and Russia have agreed to reduce their strategic nuclear warheads and the means to deliver them, which includes long-range strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear-powered submarines.