President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Nov. 15 they expect to sign a new arms control treaty to replace START by the end of December.
The arsenal limits under discussion would lead to substantial reductions in Russian and
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Proliferation Analysis
After eight rounds of talks over nine months, U.S. and Russian negotiators are expected to complete work this month on a new strategic nuclear arms reduction deal that would replace the highly successful 1991 START, which expires Dec. 5.
Lower, verifiable limits on still-bloated
The nearly 2,000 nuclear warheads on Russian ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles constitute the sole near-term existential threat to the United States. The U.S. response to this threat has been to maintain the nuclear war-fighting posture adopted during the Cold War. Yet, this posture does not lead toward an improvement in U.S. security; it merely reinforces Russia’s incentive to persist in its own anachronistic security calculus. The New START and a transformational post-Cold War Nuclear Posture Review would clear the path for major U.S. and Russian arms reductions, laying the foundation for a rejuvenated effort to halt nuclear nonproliferation and for engaging other nuclear-weapon states in arms control.
China and Russia signed an agreement Oct. 13 to notify each other of impending ballistic missile launches. The agreement was part of a large package of economic and political deals signed during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit with his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao. Putin called the agreement “a very important step towards enhancing mutual trust and strengthening our strategic partnership,” according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
One month away from START’s Dec. 5 expiration date, it is unclear that a replacement treaty will be ready for signature by that time, comments by administration officials and nongovernmental observers suggest.
Russian leaders remain committed to the Bulava RSM-56 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) despite a number of high-profile test failures, a top military official said Aug. 26.
Acritical debate on nuclear weapons is once again in the limelight. President Barack Obama has unequivocally, ambitiously, and repeatedly stated his ultimate vision of a world without nuclear weapons. Under the Obama policy, zero nuclear weapons is, for the first time in U.S. history, an operational, tangible U.S. policy goal and thus a measuring stick against which to judge a host of shorter-range, less ambitious initiatives or actions.
On September 24th, Peter Crail discussed Russian and American efforts to reduce their nuclear arsenals.
On September 17th, Daryl Kimball spoke with Russia Today about President Obama's plans for missile defense.
Responding to criticism that the START follow-on treaty, or New START, should wait until the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is completed early next year, the Pentagon announced in August that the U.S. negotiating positions for New START had been cleared by the NPR interagency process. (Continue)
This week in Moscow, Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev made history agreeing to series of concrete steps that help “reset” U.S.-Russian relations after years of decline. Most important, the two presidents agreed to a framework for a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which will expire in less than five months. Modest as it may be, the START follow-on agreement would also help maintain rough parity in U.S.-Russian strategic nuclear forces in the years ahead and set the stage for deeper reductions in all types of nuclear forces. (Continue)
In July 2009, Daryl Kimball appeared on NPR to discuss U.S.-Russian diplomacy.
On July 6, 2009, C-Span recorded an ACA press conference where Daryl Kimball and Morton Halperin discussed the Moscow Summit and the START follow-on negotiations.