By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday submitted the U.S.-Russian Moscow Treaty on nuclear weapons reductions to the Senate for its advice and consent prior to ratification (see GSN, June 6).

“The Moscow Treaty represents an important element of the new strategic relationship between the United States and Russia,” Bush said in his message to the Senate accompanying the treaty.  “When these reductions are completed, each country will be at the lowest level of deployed strategic nuclear warheads in decades.  This will benefit the peoples of both the United States and Russia and contribute to a more secure world.”

The pact describes U.S. and Russian plans to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads over the next decade.  The two countries will use the START verification regime to provide a basis for confidence and predictability in future arms reductions, Bush said.

The United States and Russia have also agreed to form a Consultative Group for Strategic Security led by the foreign and defense ministers of both countries, according to Bush.  The group will help the United States and Russia to strengthen confidence, share information and discuss strategic issues, he said.

Senate Plans

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has begun planning hearings on the treaty, but no dates have yet been set, said Lynne Weil, spokeswoman for committee Chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.).  There could be as many as six hearings on the treaty, which would begin after the Fourth of July recess, she said.  Biden has said he would like to see a full Senate vote on the treaty by the end of September, Weil said.

For further information, see:

Moscow Treaty Text (U.S. State Department)

Bush Announces Treaty

U.S. State Department Fact Sheet on Arms Reduction Treaty

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