Russia and the US will sign a new nuclear disarmament treaty early next month in the Czech capital, Prague, Russian daily newspaper Kommersant reported yesterday, citing a diplomatic source.
“The new nuclear disarmament treaty is ready,” said the source, who took part in Friday’s talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the matter.
“The negotiators in Geneva are just matching up the formulations, given the nuances of Russian and English,” the source added.
Russian and US negotiators have been in intense talks to agree a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December, but have so far failed to reach a final accord.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed last July that the new treaty should slash the number of warheads on either side to between 1,500 and 1,675.
Russian media reports have already said the country’s two leaders would like to sign the final agreement in an Eastern European capital before the US hosts a nuclear security summit on April 12 and April 13.
Kommersant’s source was sure that this would happen and that the treaty would be signed in Prague, as the US side had rejected Kiev as a venue.
The new treaty also acknowledges a link with the planned US missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe, the source said.
The New York Times reported last week that talks had hit a hitch over just this issue.
It said Obama was frustrated that Medvedev was linking the disarmament treaty to the missile defense system.
On Friday, Clinton said Russia and the US were “on the brink” of signing a new nuclear disarmament treaty after resolving all outstanding issues.
Lavrov concurred, saying: “We believe that in the nearest time we can count on the finishing of negotiations on a new agreement.”
The US currently has some 2,200 nuclear warheads, while Russia is believed to have about 3,000.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese