US negotiators working to conclude a new strategic arms treaty with Russia are discussing ways to continue nuclear weapons monitoring until the new accord can be ratified, a US Department of State spokesman said on Monday.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in July to work on a new treaty that would cut their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads.
The current Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between Russia and the US expires next Saturday. Negotiators in Geneva are hopeful of reaching a draft agreement around that time, but the deal would still have to be ratified by both sides, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.
“The negotiating teams continue to work very hard in Geneva. They have agreement on a number of issues but they are also trying to work out some of the areas where they need to come together,” he said.
“Because the treaty has to be ratified by the respective legislatures, we ... know that we are not going to have a ratified treaty that can enter into force,” Kelly said. “So we are having discussions with Russia to see how we can continue some of the transparency and verification measures ... until the treaty is ratified.”
US Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a bill last week that would permit Russian arms experts to come to the US to carry out inspections permitted under the START treaty.
The measure would let Obama approve the inspections as long as the Russians extended similar permission to US arms experts.
Lugar, in a Senate speech, said that extending the START verification mechanism was particularly important because it is also used to monitor the 2002 Moscow Treaty on strategic nuclear forces.
Kelly said the Lugar legislation was part of the effort to extend the START weapons inspection and verification regime.
“Since we recognize we’re not going to have a fully ratified treaty in both capitals, we’re looking at ways that a number of provisions can remain in effect in this period between Dec. 5 and whenever the new treaty is ratified,” Kelly said.
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