WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sealed a landmark arms-control treaty yesterday to slash their countries’ nuclear arsenals by a third and will sign it on April 8 in Prague.
After months of deadlock and delay, a breakthrough deal on a replacement for the Cold War-era START pact marked Obama’s most significant foreign policy achievement since taking office and also bolsters his effort to “reset” ties with Moscow.
Obama and Medvedev put the finishing touches on the historic accord during a phone call, committing the world’s biggest nuclear powers to deep weapons cuts.
“I’m pleased to announce that after a year of intense negotiations, the United States and Russia have agreed to the most comprehensive arms-control agreement in nearly two decades,” Obama told reporters.
But he could still face an uphill struggle for ratification this year by the U.S. Senate, where support from opposition Republicans will be hard to come by after a bitter fight that ended in congressional approval of his healthcare overhaul.
In Moscow, Medvedev hailed the agreement — which also must be approved by Russian lawmakers — as reflecting a “balance of the interests of both countries.”
Russia made clear, however, that it reserved the right to suspend any strategic arms cuts if it felt threatened by future U.S. deployment of a proposed Europe-based missile defense system that Moscow bitterly opposes.
The agreement replaces a 1991 pact that expired in December. Each side would have seven years after the treaty takes effect to reduce stockpiles of their most dangerous weapons — those already deployed — to 1,550 from the 2,200 now allowed and also cut their numbers of launchers in half.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the new pact sends a message to Iran and North Korea, both locked in nuclear standoffs with the West, of a commitment to thwart nuclear proliferation.
“WE INTEND TO LEAD”
“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,” Obama said.
Signaling prospects for cuts by other nuclear powers, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: “As soon as it becomes useful to do so, the U.K. stands ready to include our nuclear arsenal in a future multilateral disarmament process.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called it “a milestone that will promote overall nuclear disarmament,” and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso congratulated Obama and Medvedev on “this historic agreement.”
