Thaindian News

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (BNO NEWS) – U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev signed the new START treaty on Thursday at a ceremony in the Prague Castle.

The New START Treaty is one big step towards the decrease of nuclear weapons, a commitment that President Obama has been seeking since the beginning of his presidential term. The signing of this treaty is a foundation of more steps that should be taken to protect the humanity’s security and pursues global leadership.

“I said then – and I will repeat now – that this is a long-term goal, one that may not even be achieved in my lifetime. But I believed then – as I do now – that the pursuit of that goal will move us further beyond the Cold War, strengthen the global non-proliferation regime, and make the United States, and the world, safer and more secure,” President Obama said.

The new START treaty will limit both nations to reduce about a third of the nuclear weapons within seven years. Russia and the U.S. hold over 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.

“Today is an important milestone for nuclear security and non-proliferation, and for U.S.-Russia relations. It fulfills our common objective to negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. It includes significant reductions in the nuclear weapons that we will deploy. It cuts our delivery vehicles by roughly half. It includes a comprehensive verification regime, which allows us to further build trust.”

“While the New START treaty is an important first step forward, it is just one step on a longer journey. We hope to pursue discussions with Russia on reducing both our strategic and tactical weapons, including non-deployed weapons. President Medvedev and I have also agreed to expand our discussions on missile defense.”

The Treaty has a duration of 10 years and it will supersede the expired START treaty as well as another, the Russia-U.S. treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive capabilities.

“Let me point out once again what we have achieved, because this is very important thing: 1,550 developed weapons, which is about one-third below the current level; 700 deployed ICBMs – intercontinental ballistic missile – and anti-ballistic missiles and heavy bombers, and this represents more than twofold reduction below the current levels; and 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers for such missiles – deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers, which again represents a twofold reduction below the level that existed prior to the signature on this treaty,” President Medvedev said.