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NATO Chief Cheers US-Russia Arms Treaty

   VOA News 27 March 2010
   NATO  Secretary-General  Anders  Fogh  Rasmussen speaks during a forum
   regarding  'Security  Architecture  in  Europe' at the Conrad Hotel in
   Brussels, 7 Mar 2010

Photo: AP

   NATO  Secretary-General  Anders  Fogh  Rasmussen speaks during a forum
   regarding  'Security  Architecture  in  Europe' at the Conrad Hotel in
   Brussels, 7 Mar 2010

   NATO's chief is cheering the new agreement on arms control between the
   United States and Russia.
   Speaking  at  a  security  forum  in Brussels on Saturday, Anders Fogh
   Rasmussen  said  the  new  treaty  could  be  a  spark  for additional
   cooperation between Russia and NATO countries.
   U.S.  President  Barack  Obama  said  Friday  the U.S. and Russia have
   agreed  to the most comprehensive arms control agreement in nearly two
   decades.
   The  landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty reduces by about one-third
   the  number  of  long-range  nuclear  weapons  the world's two largest
   nuclear powers will deploy.
   The U.S. Senate and the Russian Parliament must ratify the treaty.
   President  Obama  said he and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev
   agreed  to  meet  in  the Czech capital, Prague, to sign the new START
   treaty  on April 8.  He said the pact shows the two nations intend to
   lead the world in reducing the nuclear threat.
   A  spokeswoman  for  President  Medvedev  told  Russia's Interfax news
   agency   the   agreement  reflects  the  balance  of  both  countries'
   interests.
   U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the pact will give Russia
   and  the  United  States  more credibility in non-proliferation and in
   dealing with countries like Iran and North Korea on nuclear issues.
   Republican Senator Richard Lugar, a long-time champion of nuclear arms
   control  efforts,  welcomed  Friday's  announcement and said he looked
   forward to working quickly to "achieve ratification."
   U.N.  Secretary-General  Ban  Ki-moon  called the treaty an "important
   milestone" and said he believed it would give "significant impetus" to
   a U.N. conference in May to review the global Nuclear Nonproliferation
   Treaty.
   British  Foreign  Secretary David Miliband said London stands ready to
   include  its  nuclear  arsenal  in  a  future multilateral disarmament
   process "as soon as it becomes useful to do so."
   The new treaty will replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START
   1  agreement)  signed  in  1991 by U.S. President George H.W. Bush and
   Soviet  President  Mikhail Gorbachev.  That treaty came into force in
   1994 but expired in December.
   U.S.  and  Russian  negotiators have been working for nearly a year on
   the new pact.
   The agreement would reduce each nation's nuclear arsenal from 2,200 to
   1,500  warheads  each.  They would have seven years from the treaty's
   ratification to carry out the reductions.
   Verification issues and Russian opposition to U.S. plans for a missile
   defense  system  in  Europe  had been holding up major progress in the
   talks.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

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