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US, Russia in nuclear arms cuts deal: newspaper

NATO experts to Russia for strategic talks: spokesman
Moscow (AFP) Feb 2, 2010 - A group of experts who are conducting a review of NATO strategy are to travel to Moscow next week to seek a Russian opinion on the Alliance's future, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said Tuesday. He said the 12-strong delegation would be in Moscow on February 10, and meet with Russian officials and representatives of civil society -- something he described as an unprecedented gesture of openness to Moscow. NATO began reworking its Strategic Concept -- a document which dates back to 1999 -- in August last year. The review is being led by former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created at the start of the Cold War under the principle of collective defence, whereby members would jointly respond to any attack by an aggressor, at that time feared to be the Soviet Union. In a visit to Moscow in December, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called for a new partnership between Moscow and the transatlantic alliance. Relations between NATO and Moscow plunged to a post-Cold War low after the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, but Rasmussen has made improving ties a priority since coming to office in August.
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Feb 2, 2010
The United States and Russia have reached an "agreement in principle" to slash their nuclear weapons stockpiles, the first such pact in nearly two decades, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

State Department officials could not immediately confirm the report which said the two sides agreed to lower the ceiling for deployed nuclear weapons from the 2,200 decided on in 1991 to between 1,500 and 1,675.

It would mark a breakthrough in months of negotiations to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which led to deep cuts in both nuclear arsenals after it was signed in 1991 before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Wall Street Journal, citing administration and arms control officials, said US and Russian arms control negotiators reached an "agreement in principle" on the nuclear arms reduction pact.

It said that the deal, in addition to reducing deployed nuclear weapons, would lower nuclear delivery systems more sharply to between 700 and 800 a side.

The breakthrough in the negotiations came two weeks ago when National Security Adviser James Jones and Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, went to Moscow to overcome stumbling blocks, it said.

Those involved two issues on verification, sharing information on missile flight tests and inspections at missile production plants, it said.

The Wall Street Journal said the agreement was approved in principle last week during a telephone conversation between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Question arose as to whether the START talks were in trouble after negotiators missed a December 5 deadline.

Nor was there a deal by January 1, even though Obama's White House said on December 17 that it still aimed to "conclude a good and verifiable (START) agreement by the end of the year."

However, analysts said negotiators were under pressure to clinch a pact in the run-up to a May review conference for the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which obliges the nuclear powers to show progress on disarmament.

earlier related report
Gorbachev gives Obama thumbs-up
Faraya, Lebanon (AFP) Feb 2, 2010 - Despite slipping in US opinion polls a year after his election, US President Barack Obama still has the firm support of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

At a news conference in Lebanon on Tuesday, Gorbachev had kind words for fellow Nobel laureate Obama, as the United States relaunched talks with Russia on a nuclear disarmament treaty.

"The election of Obama was not an accident," Gorbachev said from the ski town of Faraya, northeast of the capital, where he was invited to give a lecture later on Tuesday.

"It is true however that there has been some slippage in support for him," Gorbachev said.

A number of opinion polls in January showed Americans sharply divided on Obama's first year in office.

While he said that he liked Obama "a great deal," Gorbachev acknowledged the difficulties facing the US president as he attempts to change his country's policies.

"US policy is changing, but it's a difficult process," he said.

Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's last leader before its breakup in 1991, said the United States had missed "many opportunities" but seemed to be back on track under Obama.

The 79-year-old expressed firm support for the renewal of US-Russian talks on nuclear arms control.

"I am very pleased that now Obama has changed course and has gone back to dialogue and the process of nuclear arms control," said Gorbachev, speaking through an interpreter.

Russia and the United States on Monday resumed marathon talks in Geneva to renew a key nuclear disarmament treaty which expired in December.

Discussions had largely stalled under George W. Bush's presidency but Russian and US delegations have been meeting regularly since last May to conclude a a new agreement to replace the landmark 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired on December 5.



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Sweden, Poland call for reducing tactical nuclear arms
Stockholm (AFP) Feb 2, 2010
The Swedish and Polish foreign ministers on Tuesday called on the United States and Russia to reduce their tactical nuclear arsenals and pressed Moscow to withdraw its nuclear weapons from areas adjacent to EU member states. "We today call on the leaders of the United States and Russia to commit themselves to early measures to greatly reduce so-called tactical nuclear weapons in Europe," Swe ... read more







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