The United States will reduce its deployed strategic nuclear warheads to one-third of their current level in the next decade, President George W. Bush announced yesterday at a White House press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  The two leaders began a three-day summit yesterday.

"The current levels of our nuclear forces do not reflect today's strategic realities.  I have informed President Putin that the United States will reduce our operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads to a level between 1,700 and 2,200 over the next decade, a level fully consistent with American security," Bush said.

Putin reciprocated by promising to "respond in kind" (Associated Press/New York Times, Nov. 14). 

"Russia declares and reiterates its readiness to make considerable reductions in strategic arms," Putin said last night.  "We no longer have to intimidate each other to reach agreements" (David Sanger, New York Times, Nov. 14).

Chances For a Treaty Unclear

Putin repeated his desire "to present all our agreements in a treaty form, including the issues of verification and control," but Bush said "we don't need arms control negotiations to reduce our weaponry."

"My attitude is, here's what we can live with, and so I've announced the level that we'll stick by.  And to me, that's how you approach a relationship that is changed and different," Bush said.

Bush indicated a willingness to sign some agreement, but did not elaborate. "I looked the man in the eye and shook his hand, and if we need to write it down on a piece of paper, I'll be glad to do that.  But that's what our government is going to do over the next 10 years" (AP/New York Times).

Putin told reporters after the press conference "the world is far from having international relations based solely on trust," adding "that is why it so important today to rely on the existing foundation of treaties and agreements in the arms control and disarmament areas" (Sanger, New York Times).

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov concurred.  "To make it more reliable, we need to put it down in a treaty," he said.  "It doesn't mean we distrust anyone.  Just the opposite.  It would consolidate and boost our relations" (Barry Schweid, AP/Yahoo! News, Nov. 14).

1993 Treaty Left Behind

The Bush announcement apparently leaves behind the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, signed in 1993 but never entered into force, that would have banned the deployment of land-based MIRVed ICBMs, missiles that carry multiple warheads.

"It means abandoning one of the most hard-fought gains for U.S. national security," said Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  "Multiple warhead missiles are dangerous weapons and will remain in the Russian arsenal long after Putin is gone."

The Bush move will also change the rules for counting nuclear warheads.  Under the START agreements, warheads deployed on submarines and bombers being overhauled still counted as deployed weapons, but the Bush administration will no longer count those weapons, according to the New York Times (Michael Gordon, New York Times, Nov. 14).

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