Obama, Medvedev sign nuclear disarmament treaty

http://www.timesofearth.com/Interview/?NT=1&nid=20408 Prague, Czech Republic - Barack Obama, the US president, and Dmitry Medvedev, his Russian counterpart, have signed a landmark nuclear disarmament treaty in Prague, Czech Republic.

The agreement is a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), which expired last December.

The two leaders signed the agreement on Thursday at the Spanish Hall of the Prague Castle, the seat of the Czech presidency.

Medvedev, speaking before the signing, said the treaty was an important step for nuclear disarmament around the world.

"The treaty is an important document on which the overall situation in nuclear disarmament depends to a great extent - and so does, speaking in general, the overall situation on the planet," he said.

The treaty still has to be ratified by the US Congress and the Russian Duma.

"The Russians are also still saying that if they don't like the shape of Barack Obama's new missile defence shield, which replaces George Bush's proposal, then they still reserve the right to pull out of this."

"Even the Americans accept that it can only be seen as a precursor to a wider conversation with the rest of the world about Barack Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world."

The deal aims to reduce the number of deployed warheads by 30 per cent from the levels set in the last major US-Russian disarmament treaty in 2002, specifying limits of 1,550 nuclear warheads for each of the two countries.

Richard Weitz, the director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Political-Military Analysis, told Reuters news agency the treaty, in terms of nuclear cuts, is not so substantive.
"In terms of the reductions themselves, the treaty is not so substantive, it is, however, a modest confidence boosting measure.

"The limits are somewhat lower than in previous treaties. But if we hadn't reached this treaty people would become very concerned," he said.

Medvedev arrived in Prague from Bratislava, the capital of neighbouring Slovakia, where he commemorated the 65th anniversary of the city's World War II liberation.

He will leave for Moscow after a joint ceremonial lunch on Thursday afternoon.

Obama will meet 11 European leaders on Thursday evening, spend the night in Prague and leave around noon (10:00 GMT) on Friday after bilateral talks with Czech leaders.


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[drom300]

in Praha,Czech republic!!!