Global Security Newswire

The United States has submitted a new proposal to Russia to revise the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that is set to expire in 13 months, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A senior U.S. official said yesterday he would travel to Moscow this month to discuss the issue (see GSN, Oct. 20).

The 1991 pact allows the two nations to each deploy no more than 6,000 strategic nuclear warheads and a maximum of 1,600 delivery vehicles. The U.S. proposal submitted last month offers an additional cap to the total number of warheads each side can field, acting Undersecretary of State John Rood told reporters yesterday.

Russia has expressed interest in expanding the scope of the treaty to include some conventional weapons, according to the Journal.

With a little more than two months remaining in President George W. Bush's term, Rood acknowledged that the strategic talks would have to be continued by President-elect Barack Obama. Still, Rood hoped to get the "ball rolling" (Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 7).