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International News Title: Russian-US New START Treaty To Take Effect Saturday MUNICH, February 5 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian-American New START treaty is formally entering into force. This will happen after the representatives of the two signatories - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exchange the instruments of ratification. The Lavrov-Clinton meeting, to be held in Munich on the sidelines of the Conference on Security Policy, has already been described by the participants as the key event of three days of discussions and consultations. In fact, this is an event of global proportions: the Treaty will determine the parameters of strategic nuclear weapons reductions for the next ten years. The agreement on measures for the further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms (START) was signed by the Russian and U.S. presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, on April 8, 2010 in Prague. It obliges the parties to reduce over seven years the total number of warheads by about a third. Thus, they should not exceed 700 units for the deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and heavy bombers (HB); 1,550 warheads on them, 800 units for deployed and non-deployed launchers of ICBMs and SLBMs, as well as HB. The intention of the two countries' presidents to sign a legally binding agreement was formalized in a document issued after their talks in Moscow on July 6, 2009, called Joint Understanding on Further Reduction and Limitation of START II. It was intended to replace the previous treaty, which expired on December 5, 2010. From that moment there began painstaking work on narrowing differences and finding compromises, with both Medvedev and Obama paying unflagging attention to the process. It took the parties a little less than nine months to get to the signing of this important document. Moreover, as Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said, the presidents intentionally set no deadlines for the negotiators to be through with this work in order to ensure the need to complete it by a specific date should not put pressures on the process to the detriment of the quality of the document. Prikhodko said Medvedev personally oversaw the negotiating process and regularly heard reports by Russian negotiators. In addition, the leaders were always discussing the details over the phone and giving instructions to the participants in the negotiation process. After the signing of the agreement Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told journalists that the drafting and signing of the Treaty was “an absolute success of President Medvedev's foreign policy." The Russian Foreign Ministry is certain that the agreement "lays the foundation for qualitatively new relations between Russia and the U.S. in the military-strategic area and facilitates the transition to a higher level of bilateral cooperation in the field of disarmament and nonproliferation, as well as in the promotion of mutual and global security." In the U.S., the Department of State said that responsible partnership between the two largest nuclear powers aimed at restricting their nuclear arsenals, while maintaining stability was essential. By concluding the New START the U.S. and Russia have reached another important milestone in bilateral relations and continue to maintain the momentum given by presidents Obama and Medvedev almost two years ago as a result of the reset of relations, Washington said. The U.S. Senate ratified the New START Treaty on December 22, 2010. The State Duma adopted a law on the ratification on the January 25, 2011, and the next day it was approved by the Federation Council, the upper house. The American side coupled the ratification with a number of conditions and reservations. The final resolution said that the U.S. Congress did not consider the preamble to the agreement had a legal effect. It stated that the new treaty did not impose any restrictions on the deployment of missile defense systems, including those in Europe. The Russian side in response also made a number of reservations when it ratified the Treaty. In particular, it said that Russia had the right to withdraw from the START Treaty in case of the Americans violated its provisions, unilaterally deployed missile defense systems that "qualitatively violate the national security and defense capability of Russia,” or adopted for service non-nuclear systems without appropriate decisions by a bilateral consultative committee (its creation is envisaged by the Treaty - Itar-Tass). Separately, it stated that the preamble to the Treaty, which spelled out the relationship of START and ABM, should be fully taken into account by the parties and have full legal force. It stipulates that Russia would maintain its nuclear capabilities and combat readiness, which involves the development and testing of new weapons. "The Russian interpretations do not change the text of the Treaty, nor do they mirror the U.S. Senate’s resolution to ratify the Treaty, but they balance the agreement and return it to the format that existed at the time of its signing by the leaders of Russia and America," said the head of the Duma committee on international affairs, Konstantin Kosachyov.
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