U.S. and Russian representatives are set to hold three days of talks next month aimed at rolling back their nations' nuclear arsenals, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, April 24).
(Apr. 28) -
Russian nuclear negotiator Anatoly Antonov and U.S. counterpart Rose Gottemoeller, shown on Friday, are set to resume talks next month on reductions to their nations' nuclear arsenals (Alberto Pizzoli/Getty Images).
The meetings, scheduled from May 18-20 in Moscow, would mark the start of significant efforts to negotiate a successor pact to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires in December. The sides agreed this month to replace the older treaty and they held preliminary discussions to that end last week.
Envoys conducted last week's discussions in "a businesslike, constructive atmosphere," according to the the Russian Foreign Ministry, which announced the upcoming talks.
The United States now has 2,200 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on missiles, submarines or bomber aircraft while Russia has 2,800 operationally deployed weapons, AP reported. As of last July, the United States had roughly 5,950 warheads -- including those in storage but not ready for immediate launch -- while Russia's arsenal had around 4,100 deployed and stockpiled weapons, according to the U.S. State Department.
The 2002 Moscow Treaty requires both nations to reduce their arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 deployed warheads by the end of 2012. Observers have said that a new treaty might limit each side to no more than 1,500 deployed weapons (Associated Press/Google News, April 27).
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov plan to discuss START replacement work at a meeting in Moscow on May 7, Agence France-Presse reported (Agence France-Presse/Google News, April 27).
"Our approach to Russia is premised on constructive engagement -- not talking for talking's sake, but a dialogue that is grounded in a realistic understanding of our different interests, values and goals," according to a senior U.S. diplomat.
"Together we possess 95 percent of the world's nuclear arsenal, which gives our two countries unique capabilities and unique responsibilities to set the example for nuclear nonproliferation," Undersecretary of State William Burns said yesterday at the World Russia Forum in Washington.
In addition to formulating a new arms reduction agreement, Washington and Moscow "must work together to reduce the threat of the spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous regimes or terrorist groups, while safeguarding the peaceful use of nuclear energy," he said.
"We both confront transnational terrorist and criminal networks trafficking in nuclear technology, as well as regimes that pursue nuclear weapons under the cover of peaceful energy programs," he said. "President Obama and President Medvedev recommitted themselves to the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism launched three years ago, and which now unites 75 countries, as well as to strengthen the U.N. provisions that prevent non-state actors from obtaining WMD-related material and technology."
Through the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, Burns added, "the U.S. and Russia can point to the denuclearization of Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, the deactivation of over 7,500 nuclear warheads, the destruction of more than 750 intercontinental ballistic missiles, the elimination of more than 30 strategic ballistic missile submarines and over 600 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, as well as the removal of highly enriched uranium from more than a dozen sites around the world.
"In London, our presidents recommitted to continuing vital bilateral cooperation under the Bratislava Nuclear Security Initiative to improve and sustain security at nuclear stockpiles," he said.
Burns also urged Moscow to help rein in the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.
"Russia is a pivotal actor in discussions on Iran, given its geographic proximity and historical relations with Tehran. With the Obama administration's decision to engage Iran with our partners -- a decision Russia has long advocated -- we look forward to working closely with Moscow to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program -- to ensure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon," he said (see related GSN story, today; U.S. State Department release, April 27).