Barack Obama, the US president, and Dmitry Medvedev, his Russian counterpart, have finalised the terms of a new nuclear arms reduction agreement.<\/p>\n
The two leaders approved the deal for a successor to the landmark Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), which will cut the amount of missiles deployed by both countries by one third, following a telephone conversation on Friday [26 Mar 2010].<\/p>\n
Speaking from the White House, Obama said: "With this agreement, the United States and Russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world, also send a clear signal that we intend to lead.<\/p>\n
"By upholding our own commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons, and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities."<\/p>\n
Ratification required<\/p>\n
The two nations will sign the new treaty on April 8 in Prague, where Obama gave a major speech last April calling for a world free of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
The deal replaces the 1991 Start agreement which expired in December.<\/p>\n
Obama said he was looking forward to working closely with his fellow Democrats and Republicans in Congress to ratify the new treaty.<\/p>\n
Some analysts have said Republicans who staunchly back missile defence may try to deny the Obama administration the two-thirds majority it needs in the Senate to pass the treaty.<\/p>\n
Robert Gates, the US defence secreatry, said the new treaty did not set constraints on US plans to develop and improve missile defence systems.<\/p>\n
Patty Culhane, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Washington, said: "This is probably the first concrete success that President Obama can point to when it comes to foreign policy.<\/p>\n
"This has been a very tough negotiation, it’s been going on for more than a year and the announcement is more than three months late." <\/p>\n
Neave Barker, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Moscow, said that Medvedev had announced that "the agreement showed a balance of interests between the two countries".<\/p>\n
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said the treaty had made a "significant contribution … to strengthening the regime of nuclear non-proliferation".<\/p>\n
He said the treaty would "also increase the level of trust not only between Russia and the United States but more generally between nuclear and non-nuclear … members of the Non-Proliferation Treaty".<\/p>\n
Difficult negotiations<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the treaty the two countries will reduce their number of warheads to 1,550 each.<\/p>\n
The US has said it currently has about 2,200 nuclear warheads, while Russia is believed to have about 3,000.<\/p>\n
Moscow and Washington have held months of difficult negotiations in Geneva aimed at replacing the treaty, a cornerstone of Cold War-era strategic arms control.<\/p>\n
Lavrov said: "I’d also like to note the unprecedented personal involvement of presidents Obama and Medvedev in agreeing on the new treaty.
"They regularly discussed the situation in talks and developed a common understanding, which allowed delegations in Geneva to find solutions on the most complex issues."<\/p>\n
The 1991 Start agreement led to huge reductions in the Russian and US nuclear arsenals and imposed verification measures to build trust between the two former Cold War foes.<\/p>\n
Delays in the START talks and missed deadlines have cast a shadow over the Russian and US leaders’ efforts to make good on their pledge to improve bilateral ties.<\/p>\n
The US is set to host a nuclear security summit on April 12 to 13, and observers had said it had been a matter of pride for Washington to have the new treaty in place before the summit.<\/p>\n