Obama: New U.S.-Russia Arms Treaty "Close"

(AP)  President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. and Russia were "quite close' to agreeing on a successor to an expired nuclear arms control treaty.

Mr. Obama had wanted a new deal in place before the end of the year, but that appeared unlikely.

Emerging from private talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the U.N. climate conference, Mr. Obama expressed confidence that a successor pact will be agreed to in a "timely fashion." Medvedev said technical details still needed to be worked out.

Both leaders made only brief statements to reporters and took no questions. Neither one said anything about a possible timetable for signing a deal.

"We've been making excellent progress," Mr. Obama said. "We are quite close to an agreement. And I'm confident that it will be completed in a timely fashion."

Medvedev largely echoed Mr. Obama's expressions of optimism over a potential deal.

"Our positions are very close," the Russian leader said.

Three Russian news agencies quoted Medvedev aide Sergei Prikhodko as saying a treaty signing will not happen this year. Prikhodko said no signing date was being announced to avoid putting excess pressure on the negotiators, who are meeting in Geneva.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said negotiations had become hung up on a disagreement over how to monitor the development of new intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Officials said U.S. negotiators would continue working with their Russian counterparts through the weekend. But negotiators plan to break for the Christmas holiday and return to the bargaining table in the new year, a U.S. official said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The new deal would replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I, that expired Dec. 5.

Signed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President George H.W. Bush, that treaty required each country to cut its nuclear warheads by at least one-fourth, to about 6,000, and to implement procedures for verifying that each side was sticking to the agreement.

At a summit in Moscow last July, Mr. Obama and Medvedev agreed to cut the number of nuclear warheads on each side to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years, as part of a broad new treaty. They initially had instructed negotiators to seek a fully ratified deal by the Dec. 5 expiration.


COPENHAGEN, Dec. 18, 2009

[Turbidite]

This would be a good thing....a very good thing. I have witnessed the destruction of these ICBMs and their nuclear warheads both in Russia and the USA. It is easily monitored and sets an example for other nations with nuclear weapons to follow. If you need defensive weapons there are plenty of other methods that do not require throwing deadly, nuclear material around.

[MADDAT52]

President Obama folds to pressures from Russia in climate talks, Russia?s and Brazil have heavily invested in the oil business and with China and India on the verge of massive requirements for gas and oil they will not yield to pressures by global warming alarmists with junk science. Goodbye Al Gore and may your lunacy rest in peace.

[Jack Wiseheimer]

What do the Russians think of their nuclear disarmament? 'Deeper cuts, less intrusive inspections' is like drying yourself with a towel under flushing water. Do they think we all dumb!
They throw away their clunkers and give away the enriched material to Iran?!
If there was a difference in total mass of disposed nuclear material who should really care - a loss is everywhere. They think of their losses in their oil-pipelines, their hidden 2nd Tschernobyl.
Their former Soviet founder, Lenin said:'Trust is good, control is better.' We ought to stick to intrusive controls, not an inch less.
You can't really trust those self-loving, democracy-pretending old apparatchiks of the former Soviet Union. They pretend being peace-loving, on the other side they want to restore the Russian Empire again. 'Tsar Putin' has already made his call. Belarus will be their next acquirement, then Ukraine, then ...

[NowBeWithThat]

Pres. Obama is wise to make nice with the Russians while Hugo 'Beanie Man' Chavez and Mahmoud 'Squinty' Ahmadinejad are creating a little nuke pact of their own.

[pcherring]

6,000 nuclear weapons are 1500 what a big deal. If you really desire to do something unusual then cut the weapons down to ten each.

[ajvw]

let me guess...in return for giving up all our weapons russia will promise never to attack us

[fedup12]

I agree with you. All our wealth and taxes shoule be spent in the Military Industrial Complex to build up our military and nuclear arsenal.

I dont really care if Americans get healthcare or if the our countries infra-structure falls apart. As long as we can blow every one else worldwide to smithereens at a moments notice. Glenn Beck says buy gold now!!! and lots of lead :)

[daffy64]

You got it. The USA spends more on "defence" than the next ten countries COMBINED, but it's still not enough. We need fighter jets that are a hundred times better than the enemies (not just twice as good) and dozens of new nuclear aircraft carriers to steam around in circles in the ocean.

Screw Joe average citizen and his bad health care. His taxes must go into the pockets of Raytheon, Boeing, and other patriotic companies.

Only then will we be safe from the hoards of Mexicans and Canadians massing on the borders, itching for a conventional war.