Obama and Medvedev sign disarmament treaty

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Obama and Medvedev sign disarmament treaty

2 hours, 14 minutes ago

By Jan Lopatka and Caren Bohan

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The United States and Russia signed a landmark disarmament

treaty on Thursday they hope will herald better bilateral ties and raise

pressure on countries seeking nuclear weapons to renounce such ambitions.

Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed the pact at a ceremony in the

mediaeval Prague Castle after talks that covered nuclear security, Iran's atomic

program and an uprising in the strategic Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan.

The agreement will cut strategic nuclear arsenals deployed by the former Cold

War foes by 30 percent within seven years but leave each with enough to destroy

the other.

Both major nuclear powers needed to show they were serious about reducing their

vast stockpiles to lend weight to efforts to curb the atomic ambitions of

countries such as Iran and North Korea, and avoid accusations of hypocrisy.

White House officials told reporters on Obama's flight to Prague that tougher

U.N. sanctions against Iran's disputed nuclear program would be prominent in his

talks with Medvedev, although no specific announcements were expected.

" The Russians are already committed to holding Iran accountable through the

multilateral sanctions regime, " deputy National Security Adviser Ben

said.

The situation in Kyrgyzstan, where opposition protesters forced out President

Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Wednesday, thrust its way on to the agenda as both

Washington and Moscow have military bases in the poor Central Asian state. The

U.S. base at Manas is vital for supplying NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin effectively recognized the interim Kyrgyz

government formed by opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva on Thursday, speaking to

her by telephone, his spokesman said. There was no immediate word on whether

Washington would follow suit.

Obama this week announced a shift in U.S. nuclear doctrine, pledging never to

use atomic weapons against non-nuclear states, as he sought to build momentum

for an April 12-13 nuclear security summit in Washington.

The U.S. president set out his long-term goal to work toward a world without

nuclear weapons in a speech at the same Prague Castle a year ago.

Medvedev said on arrival on Wednesday that the treaty could play a considerable

role in shaping disarmament in the future.

White House spokesman Gibbs said Obama hoped and expected the U.S. Senate

would ratify the treaty this year, before mid-term elections may change the

composition of the upper house of Congress, controlled by the Democrats.

MESSAGE ON IRAN

Analysts expected Obama to use the signing to build pressure on Tehran, along

with the nuclear summit in Washington and a meeting with Chinese President Hu

Jintao next week.

Pifer, an arms control expert at the Brookings Institution, said the pact

with Russia would give the U.S. delegation more credibility at the

non-proliferation conference.

" If the United States and Russia were to show up with no agreement and between

the two of them controlling 95 percent of the weapons, it's pretty easy for the

non-nuclear states to say, 'well you're not doing your part, why should we?', "

Pifer said.

Obama's new nuclear strategy document broke with former President W.

Bush's threat of nuclear retaliation in the event of a biological or chemical

attack.

The assurance applies only to countries in compliance with the nuclear

Non-Proliferation Treaty, so Iran and North Korea would not receive that

commitment.

Washington and Moscow have plenty of differences on issues ranging from Iran to

missile defense.

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Moscow's threat to

withdraw from the START II treaty if U.S. plans for missile defense threatened

Russia.

Obama has put a priority on trying to " reset " relations with Moscow that hit a

post-Cold War low during Russia's 2008 war with Georgia, and the treaty could

help that.

The successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty would limit

operationally deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550, down nearly two-thirds from

START I. However, it does not limit shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons.

Later on Thursday, Obama will dine with 11 heads of state from central and

eastern Europe. Czech diplomats said the meeting was designed to reassure former

Soviet bloc countries that resetting relations with Russia would not diminish

U.S. interests in the region.