Global Security Newswire

The United States plans to negotiate significant nuclear-weapon reductions with Russia, perhaps seeking to reduce each nation's arsenal to 1,000 warheads, the London Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 14).

Comments from an administration official offered the first specific glimpse at the Obama administration's plans to create a follow-on pact to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which is set to expire in December. The treaty limits both nations to no more than 6,000 strategic warheads on 1,600 delivery vehicles, and it has extensive verification provisions to create confidence that the reductions are being maintained.

The Bush administration agreed to further cuts with Russia in the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, which called for capping deployed warheads at 2,200 each by the end of 2012, but did not contain any verification or monitoring measures.

"We are going to re-engage Russia in a more traditional, legally binding arms reduction process,” an Obama administration official told the Times. “We are prepared to engage in a broader dialogue with the Russians over issues of concern to them. Nobody would be surprised if the number reduced to the 1,000 mark for the post-START treaty” (Tim Reid, London Times I, Feb. 4).

Moscow welcomed the comment, but warned that any nuclear agreement would need to address Russian concerns over U.S. plans to deploy missiles defenses in Eastern Europe.

"We welcome the statements from the new Obama administration that they are ready to enter into talks and complete within a year, in this very confined time frame, the signing of a new Russian-U.S. treaty on the limitation of strategic attack weapons," said Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. "We are also ready for this, undoubtedly."

"If the American administration really intends to radically cut Russia's and the U.S.'s strategic nuclear arsenals to 1,000 warheads, this would undeniably be a step that could promote real nuclear disarmament," agreed Col. Gen. Viktor Yesin, former head of Russia's strategic rocket forces. "However, with such considerable reductions of nuclear arsenals, an equal level of security for Russia and the U.S. could be ensured only on condition that Washington drops the idea of deploying ... its missile defense system in Europe" (Tony Halpin, London Times II, Feb. 4).