The United States and Russia have finalized the most comprehensive nuclear arms reduction treaty in nearly two decades, President Barack Obama announced today, capping more than a year of intense negotiations, dpa reported. Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed on the final details of what has been dubbed the "New START Treaty" in a telephone call Friday and will meet in Prague on April 8 to sign the deal. The treaty will then have to be ratified by both countries' legislatures. With the START deal, the US and Russia "send a clear signal that we intend to lead" on reducing the prevalence of nuclear weapons around the world, said Obama, who last year in Prague laid out a long-term vision of a world without nuclear weapons. The agreement and April 8 signing ceremony were confirmed in Moscow. The Russian government sees the agreement as reflecting the balance of interests of both countries, said Natalia Timakova, the spokeswoman for Medvedev. Both sides will be required within seven years to reduce their arsenals of long-range nuclear warheads to 1,550, about one-third below current levels and nearly three quarters below the level agreed in the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that was signed in 1991. The deal also cuts the number of vehicles for deploying nuclear weapons, such as submarines and heavy bombers. The United States and Russia own about 90 per cent of the world's nuclear weapons, and the treaty will still preserve the vast nuclear deterrent held by both countries.
