News sources around the world this week reported on Russia’s apparent desire to negotiate further nuclear disarmament with the United States. Last Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, “We are ready to go further along the path of cuts and limits, naturally taking account of Russia's national security interests.”
This decision was spurred by the expiration of a standing agreement called the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, which will expire in December. The two countries have slowly been reducing their number of nuclear warheads by similar increments over the last decade.
Obviously both countries do not want to compromise their national security, so they have striven to keep their amount of nuclear arms equal, though it is thought that Russia currently possesses less.
Russian leaders have expressed their appreciation of the Obama administration, because Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has already expressed that the renegotiation of START would be a priority. The Bush administration apparently avoided the issue for the past few years because Russia wants the agreement they decide on to be legally binding.
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