RIA: Russia, U.S. lawmakers to coordinate new arms reduction deal

RIA: Russia, U.S. lawmakers to coordinate new arms reduction deal

A senior Russian lawmaker will fly to the United States on Wednesday to prepare a coordinated ratification of a new strategic arms reduction treaty.

Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, expressed hope on the eve of his trip to Washington that the document would be signed in the first quarter of this year, and said the sides planned to discuss various aspects of the ratification process.

"Together with the colleagues from the U.S. Senate we will carry out preparatory work for the synchronized ratification of the treaty," Margelov said.

The new treaty's outline, as agreed by the Russian and U.S. presidents, includes cutting nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675 operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.

Disagreements over verification and control procedures have prevented Moscow and Washington from signing a new deal before the New Year break to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1), which expired on December 5.

However, U.S. and Russian arms control negotiators have recently said they reached an "agreement in principle" on the new document.

Margelov said the ratification of the new treaty by the Russian parliament could take about a month, but the U.S. Congress may face "a more serious work" because of bipartisan disagreements over the risks and potential threats involved.

"It is important that the new Russian-American treaty...does not fall victim to the bipartisan disagreements between the Republicans and the Democrats, as it happened with some other international documents," the Russian senator said.

Striking a new comprehensive arms reduction deal is widely seen as crucial to improving relations between Russia and the United States.

The new document must be ratified by lawmakers in Moscow and Washington before it comes into effect.

MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti)

02.02.2010, 22.06

PARIS, February 2 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia and the United States may sign the new treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive armaments in the first quarter of this year, Chairman of the Federation Council International Affairs Committee Mikhail Margelov told Itar-Tass.

“The last details are being coordinated,” he said.

Margelov, who leads the Russian delegation to the Paris Global Zero summit, said he would fly to Washington on Wednesday. “We will prepare for the synchronous ratification of the new treaty together with American Senators,” he said.

“The treaty ratification at the Russian parliament is highly probable, but a lot of work must still be done at the U.S. Congress,” he said.

“The Russian-American treaty, which is bound to replace START I, must not fall victim of disagreements between the Democrats and the Republics, as it has happened to some other international documents,” Margelov said.

It may take about one month to ratify the treaty at the Russian parliament, he said.

A U.S. expert in disarmament said the United States and Russia have to show real progress in reducing their nuclear arsenal as a first step in global disarmament.

The United States and Russia resumed their talks this week on a nuclear arms reduction treaty as a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that expired on Dec. 5, 2009 in Geneva.

Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the Clinton administration Thomas Pickering said in an interview with Xinhua that the two countries possess some 6,000 to 7,000 nuclear warheads each, some 95 percent of all nuclear weapons on the planet.

"Russia and the United States are obviously going to have to take the lead and move toward very low levels" regarding their nuclear weapons, Pickering said.

Pickering praised U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for pushing on the disarmament negotiations.

"Both presidents seemed firmly determined in their commitment to negotiate a good treaty, and both seemed determined to work toward a world without nuclear weapons," the former diplomat said.

Obama has embraced the vision of a world without nuclear weapons. Talking about nuclear weapons, he called them "perhaps the greatest danger to the American people" in his first State of the Union address last month.

Obama and Medvedev made significant progress toward such a vision last year, as they agreed last July to slash each country's nuclear warheads to 1,500 and 1,675 and delivery vehicles to 500 and 1,000 respectively under a successor treaty to START.

The START, signed in 1991 between the Soviet Union and the United States, obliged both sides to reduce the number of their nuclear warheads to 6,000 and delivery vehicles to 1,600.

As disarmament negotiators talking in Geneva, international political, military, business and faith leaders gathered Tuesday in Paris to attend the Global Zero World Summit, pushing for a phased elimination of all nuclear weapons.

Some 200 dignitaries are expected to attend the three-day meeting, including former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, and Queen Noor of Jordan.

Obama, Medvedev and UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon all sent messages in support of the summit.

Pickering, who is attending the summit, said in an interview with Xinhua earlier that the plan the dignitaries are going to discuss will be about how "other states would join" when the United States and Russia reduce their nuclear arsenal to a quite low number, "probably in the neighborhood of 1,000 each."

Pickering said he hoped the disarmament talks between the United States and Russia could persuade other countries with nuclear ambitions that "they don't need nuclear weapons."

However, he warned that "there's no way to go to zero unless everybody goes to zero obviously, because the concern would be that people would use their nuclear posture for political purposes."

Pickering said the international community has a shared sense that nuclear weapons are so powerful that they should never have to be used.

"If that's the case ... then we should get rid of them, because there's still the danger of accidental or miscalculated use," he said, noting there's also the danger that nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists.

The United States is hosting a Nuclear Security Summit in April, with a goal to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years so that they never fall into the hands of terrorists.