|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
START Pact Should Be Replaced, Putin Says
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday called for talks with the United States to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 8, 2005). The treaty, signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1991, allows each side to deploy no more than 6,000 nuclear warheads on no more than 1,600 delivery vehicles. It is due to expire in 2009. “We call for the renewal of dialogue on key weapons-reduction issues first of all, we propose to our American partners to launch negotiations on replacing the START treaty,” Putin said. He added that it was vital to help alleviate “stagnation” in disarmament efforts. The treaty includes inspection and verification measures, which Russia has been accused of violating by blocking the United States from inspecting its ICBMs (see GSN, Sept. 15, 2005). Putin’s speech comes three weeks before he meets with U.S. President George W. Bush and other world leaders at the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington, said the Russian president’s call is “very, very significant.” Previously, neither country seemed interested in replacing the treaty, he said. “It could kick-start a process that has been essentially moribund,” Kimball told AP (Judith Ingram, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 28).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
