Brief Chronology of START II
March 2003
Press Contacts: Daryl
Kimball, Executive Director, (202) 463-8270 x107
Nearly a decade of efforts to bring START II into force ended in
June 2002, a month after the United States and Russia concluded
negotiations on the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT),
which stipulates a 1,700-2,200 deployed strategic warhead ceiling
for each of the two countries' nuclear arsenals. The SORT limit
effectively supersedes START II's cap of 3,000-3,500 warheads for
each side.1
June 14, 2002: Russian President Vladimir Putin declares
that Russia is no longer bound by its signature of START II, ending
his country's efforts to bring the treaty into force.
June 13, 2002: U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile
(ABM) Treaty takes effect.
May 24, 2002: Russia and the United States sign the Strategic
Offensive Reductions Treaty in Moscow, which calls for each country
to deploy no more than 1,700-2,200 strategic warheads.
December 13, 2001: U.S. President George W. Bush issues
a six-month notice to withdraw from the ABM Treaty, stating, "I
have concluded the ABM Treaty hinders our government's ability to
develop ways to protect our people from future terrorist or rogue-state
missile attacks."
May 4, 2000: Putin signs the resolution of ratification
for START II and its extension protocol. The legislation makes exchange
of the instruments of ratification (required to bring the treaty
into force) contingent on U.S. ratification of the 1997 extension
protocol and ABM-related agreements.
April 14, 2000: The Russian Duma (lower house of parliament)
overwhelmingly approves the START II ratification legislation 288-131
with four abstentions.
April 2, 1999: The Duma postpones a scheduled vote on START
II ratification to protest NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia,
which started March 24 after Serbia refused to halt military actions
against Kosovar Albanians seeking autonomy. (Moscow has historically
allied itself with Serbia.)
December 25, 1998: In response to the December 16-19 U.S.-British
air strikes against Iraq, the Duma postpones a scheduled vote on
START II ratification.
April 13, 1998: President Boris Yeltsin submits the START
II extension protocol to the Duma.
September 26, 1997: Codifying commitments made at Helsinki,
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Russian Foreign Minister
Yevgeny Primakov sign a protocol in New York extending the deadline
for the elimination of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles (SNDVs)
under START II from January 1, 2003, to December 31, 2007. In an
exchange of letters, Albright and Primakov also agree that once
START II enters into force, the United States and Russia will deactivate
by December 31, 2003, all SNDVs to be eliminated under the treaty
"by removing their nuclear reentry vehicles or taking other
jointly agreed steps." Primakov's letter also states that Russia
expects that START III will "be achieved" and enter into
force "well in advance" of the START II deactivation deadline.
March 20-21, 1997: Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin
address a number of arms control issues during their summit meeting
in Helsinki. In a "Joint Statement on Parameters on Future
Reductions in Nuclear Forces," the presidents agree to extend
the deadline for SNDV elimination under START II by five years and
to immediately begin negotiations on a START III treaty once START
II enters into force (subsequently modified to occur once START
II is ratified). They also agree that START III negotiations will
include four basic components: a limit of 2,000-2,500 deployed strategic
nuclear warheads for each side by the end of 2007, measures relating
to the transparency of strategic nuclear warhead inventories and
to the destruction of strategic warheads, extension of the current
START agreements to unlimited duration, and the deactivation by
the end of 2003 of all SNDVs to be eliminated under START II.
January 26, 1996: The Senate overwhelmingly approves START
II by a vote of 87-4.
June 22, 1995: President Yeltsin submits START II to the
Duma for ratification.
January 15, 1993: President George H. W. Bush submits START
II to the Senate for advice and consent.
January 3, 1993: Presidents Bush and Yeltsin sign START
II in Moscow.
NOTE
1. For more detailed information on the
START II agreement, please see START
II and its Extension Protocol at a Glance.
|
