Russian parliament's upper house ratifies U.S.-Russia arms cuts deal
11:23 26/01/2011
MOSCOW, January 26 (RIA Novosti) - The upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, ratified on Wednesday a new strategic arms reduction treaty between Russia and the United States.
The new arms reduction pact, replacing START 1, which expired in December 2009, was signed in Prague last April by President Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama. The document slashes the Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals to a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200.
The parliament's lower house, the State Duma, ratified the treaty on Tuesday, adding some provisions to the ratification document and issuing two supplementary statements to the resolution on ratification of the treaty.
The ratification document provides a legally-binding clause that links strategic offensive and strategic defensive weapons.
The first supplementary statement addresses the current state and the future of Russia's nuclear deterrent, while the second outlines the State Duma's position on the reduction and limitations of strategic offensive armaments.
The U.S. Senate ratified the new arms deal with Russia on December 22, 2010, also adding several amendments to the resolution on ratification, including a demand to build up U.S. global missile defenses.
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