America, Russia and nuclear weapons

America, Russia and nuclear weapons

New start

Russia and America agree to sharp cuts in their deployed warheads and delivery systems

IT HAS been a good week for Barack Obama. After passing his long-awaited health care bill, he has now struck an equally long-awaited deal with Russia to reduce the two countries’ nuclear stockpiles. On Friday March 26th he announced that Russia's president, Dmitri Medvedev, had agreed to a follow-on treaty to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which was signed in 1991 and expired last December. The new deal will cut both countries' arsenals by about a third from the maximum that would have been allowed under a deal struck in 2002 between George Bush and Russia's then-president, Vladimir Putin. The new deal will cut the countries' arsenals to 1,550 deployed warheads each and 700 delivery systems (intercontinental land-based missiles, submarine-based missiles and strategic bombers).

It had been widely expected, but is welcome nonetheless. Russia has been keen to cut the cost of maintaining its large stockpile of nuclear weapons and Mr Obama has talked about getting eventually to a world free of all nuclear weapons. The treaty must next be ratified in Russia's Duma and in America's Senate, in the latter case with 67 votes of 100. But in America it should not be a partisan issue. Mr Obama noted positive discussions he has had with leading senators of both parties on the foreign-affairs committee, John Kerry, the Democrat, and the Republican ranking member, Richard Lugar. The White House addressed a potential sticking point, saying the new deal does not place any limits on testing, development or deployment of current or planned America missile-defence programmes. Robert Gates, the defence secretary, expressed the hope that Russia would co-operate with a redesigned missile-defence system in Europe. Russia was pleased at the inclusion of language referring to the clear relationship between offensive systems and missile defence.

Progress over nuclear-weapons cuts could help to warm relations between America and Russia which had deteriorated badly in the later Bush years, particularly over a planned American missile shield for Central Europe. Mr Obama’s change to the Bush plan (he intends to resite the planned shield) has helped to ease tensions. Co-operation between the two countries continues in important areas. Russia now allows supplies to cross its territory to American and allied forces in Afghanistan. Russia, as a permanent member of the UN's Security Council, is also slowly coming around to the idea of new sanctions on Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme.

The momentum of the new START deal may help other nuclear negotiations. The treaty is to be signed in Prague on April 8th. Shortly after that a conference on nuclear security will take place in Washington, to discuss measures to help lock down potentially loose nuclear material that could otherwise find its way into the hands of terrorists. (Mr Lugar was an early sponsor of American efforts to secure weapons material inside the former Soviet Union).

Another conference takes place in May, under the auspices of the United Nations, for a five-yearly review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). That treaty recognised five nuclear powers—America, Russia, China, France and Britain. It allows all other countries, in compliance with their treaty obigations, to pursue civilian nuclear power but no nuclear weapons. It also commits the nuclear powers to work towards nuclear disarmament. Israel, India and Pakistan never signed the deal and have all developed nukes. North Korea flounced out of the NPT and tested a bomb, too.

Mr Obama's team hopes that weapons cuts will draw some of the sting of a charge of hypocrisy by the big powers in trying to deny nuclear weapons to others, and may therefore allow for a robust strenghtening of the NPT.