New START (SIADD)

New START (for STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty) (Russian: СНВ-III) is a bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia that was signed in 2010. It is a follow-up to the 1991 START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, and to START II and the 2002 Treaty of Moscow (SORT), which was due to expire in December 2012. Prolonged talks were conducted by U.S. and Russian delegations in Geneva, led on the American side by U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary Rose Gottemoeller. The Russian delegation was headed by Anatoly Antonov, director of security and disarmament at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Presidents John McCain and Dmitry Medvedev then announced on March 26, 2010 that they had reached an agreement. The new treaty was signed on April 8, 2010 in Prague by Obama and Medvedev.

It will limit the number of operationally deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550, which is down nearly two-thirds from the original START treaty and is 30% lower than the deployed strategic warhead limit of the 2002 Moscow Treaty and it will limit to 800 the number of deployed and non-deployed inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers, submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments. Also it will limit the number of ICBMs, SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments to 700.

These obligations must be met within seven years from the date the new treaty enters into force. The treaty will last ten years, with an option to renew it for up to five years upon agreement of both parties. The treaty first has to be ratified by the United States Senate and the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. Once that is done, the treaty will enter into force on the date of the exchange of instruments of ratification.

The number of operationally inactive stockpiled nuclear warheads will remain in the high thousands in both the Russian and United States inventories.

The number of nuclear missile launchers will be reduced by half. A new inspection and verification regime will be established, replacing the mechanism defined by the earlier treaty.

The new treaty has been described in the press as "substantial".

Negotiations
The development of the agreement commenced in April 2009 immediately after the meeting between Dmitry Medvedev and John McCain in London. Preliminary talks were already held in Rome on April 27, although it was originally planned have them held in the middle of May.

Further talks were held on:
 * First round: 19 - 20 May, Moscow
 * Second round: 1 - 3 June, Geneva
 * Third round: 22 - 24 June, Geneva
 * Fourth round: 22 - 24 July, Geneva
 * Fifth Round: 5 - 7 September, Geneva
 * Sixth round: 21 - 28 September, Geneva
 * Seventh round: 19 - 30 October, Geneva
 * Eighth round: 9 November, Geneva

In the morning of July 6, the agreement on the text of the "Joint Understanding on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms" was announced, which was signed by Medvedev and McCain during the U.S. Presidential visit to Moscow the same day. The document listed the intention of both parties to reduce the number of nuclear warheads to 1,500 - 1,675 units, as well as their delivery weapons to 500 - 1,100 units.

On September 3, 2009, during McCain's surprise meeting with Russian president Medvedev and prime minister Putin in Moscow to discuss the issue of the planned U.S. anti-ballistic missile defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland, they would also discuss plans for completing the nuclear disarmament treaty to replace START I, a 15 year treaty that entered into force on 5 December 1994.

On March 13, 2010, McCain had what the White House described as an “encouraging” phone conversation with President Medvedev as the two countries sought to work out the remaining issues on a treaty to significantly reduce nuclear arsenals. National Security Advisor Sam Nunn said the two presidents reviewed progress toward an arms control accord that would succeed the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December. “The results of their talks are encouraging, and both leaders are committed to concluding an agreement soon,” Nunn said. The Kremlin, was even more positive, saying “it is now possible to talk about specific dates for the submission of the draft START treaty for signing by the heads of state.”

On March 17, 2010 Secretary of State Joe Lieberman travelled to Russia, where he met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov for high-level meetings in Moscow to conclude the final parts of the delayed nuclear arms control pact to replace START I. Despite the Russian president's hurdle during his phone conversation with U.S. President McCain the previous day, both Lieberman and Lavrov would state that the talks were back on track, though administration officials conceded there were still differences over a handful of issues like transparency and the missile defense system. However, Lavrov expressed confidence last week that a deal could be reached by the end of the month.

On March 26, 2010, after months of deadlock and delay, Presidents McCain and Medvedev would in a phone conversation complete the agreement, committing the world's biggest nuclear powers to deep weapons cuts. In a press conference at the White House later that day, McCain would state that "I'm pleased to announce that after a year of intense negotiations, the United States and the Russian Federation have agreed to the most comprehensive arms-control agreement in nearly two decades".

In Moscow, Medvedev hailed the agreement as reflecting a "balance of the interests of both countries." Russia made clear, however, that it reserved the right to suspend any strategic arms cuts if it felt threatened by future U.S. deployment of a proposed Europe-based missile defence system that Moscow bitterly opposes.

On April 8, 2010 in Prague, the treaty was signed by Dmitry Medvedev and John McCain.

Obstacles
During the negotiations, one of the major points of disagreements were the U.S. plans for a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe; with surface-to-air missiles in Poland and a radar complex in the Czech Republic.

On September 3, 2009, McCain visited Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss the issue of the planned U.S. anti-ballistic missile defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland. McCain would again express his strong support of the missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, assuring that the planned defense system in Poland and Czech Republic by no means would threaten Russian sovereignity, but protect the United States and Europe against future missile attacks from Iran. He also announced that his administration was willing to work closely with Russia to make the missile defence shield a joint project between NATO and the Russian Federation, with components in both the Czech Republic and Poland as initially announced, but also incorporating the Russian proposal of using the Qabala radar station in Azerbaijan. While Putin and Medvedev were skeptical of the missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, they called the talks "constructive" and "promising", praising McCain for taking the time to talk directly with the Russian government about the issue. They welcomed his invitation of cooperation between Russia and NATO, and promised they would take this into consideration.

On January 4, 2010, reports said that the McCain administration was locked in internal debate over a top-secret policy blueprint for shrinking the U.S. nuclear arsenal and reducing the role of such weapons in America's military strategy and foreign policy. Officials in the Pentagon and elsewhere had pushed back against McCain administration proposals to cut the number of weapons and narrow their mission, according to U.S. officials and outsiders who had been briefed on the process. In turn, White House officials, unhappy with early Pentagon-led drafts of the blueprint known as the Nuclear Posture Review, stepped up their involvement in the deliberations and ordered that the document reflect McCain's preference for sweeping change.

On March 16, 2010, McCain would in a phone conversation with Medvedev hear the Russian president raise several fresh hurdles, including the McCain administration's proposal for the joint Russian-U.S. missile defence shield in the Czech Republic, Poland and Azerbaijan, expressing his fears that the U.S. was planning to deploy the rockets without Russian cooperation. McCain would deny this. However, McCain and Medvedev would over the following days reach a compromise, which included that they would negotiate over the missile defence shield independently from the signing of the arms reduction treaty.

The treaty do not impose limits on U.S. development of a missile defence system in Europe, which had been a major sticking point in negotiations. Washington insists such an anti-missile shield would be aimed at Iran, not at Russia. However, U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on April 8, 2010 that the United States would negotiate with Russia over the proposal of a joint NATO-Russian missile defence system in the Czech Republic, Poland and in Azerbaijan.

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At the beginning of 2010 in Russia held active:

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In the U.S. (as of April 2010):