Russian-American treaty on strategic offensive arms went to the Senate

President Barack Obama on May 13 in a telephone conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on introducing the Senate a treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms (START).
According to the press service of the U.S. Administration, the document will be submitted to the upper house of Congress during the day on May 13. At the same time in the Senate has scheduled hearings on the treaty. The first of these will be held on May 18.

The Russian side has also announced its intention to make a contract to the State Duma in the near future. A statement, as reported by Interfax, made at a meeting of the Federation Council’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. This information was confirmed by the agency spokesman Dmitry Medvedev Tatiana Timakova.

Russian and American presidents signed a treaty on strategic offensive arms on 8 April in Prague. He must replace the Agreement on Strategic Offensive Reductions, signed between the USSR and the U.S. in 1991: his term expired in December 2009. The parties did not have time to prepare a new agreement on time, and the text of the treaty was agreed upon only on Dec. 18, 2009.

In the process of negotiating the contract dispute caused by the mechanism of control over mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as the total number of authorized vehicles. In addition, the complexity of the negotiations arose because of attempts to link the START II treaty with the U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe.

Under the new agreement, the parties will reduce the number of deployed strategic delivery of up to 700 units. In this case the total number of carriers should not be greater than 800, and the number of warheads will be limited to 1,550 units. The Treaty will enter into force after ratification by Russia and the United States, its duration is 10 years.