Medvedev submits START treaty for ratification
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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday submitted the document of the new strategic arms reduction treaty (START) to the State Duma for ratification.
"Today I have submitted the strategic offensive arms reduction treaty with the United States for ratification," said the president when meeting with senior figures of the United Russia party on Friday.
The president meanwhile called on lawmakers to approve the document with the U.S. Congress simultaneously.
One day earlier, the Russian government said it has studied the new document and suggested Medvedev's submission to the lower house of the Russian parliament for ratification.
Under the new treaty signed between Moscow and Washington in April, the warheads held by the two nuclear superpowers will be reduced to 1,500, about 30 percent lower than the previous treaty's limitation. Strategic offensive weapons will be based solely on the national territories of Russia and the United States.
Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama have agreed earlier that the ratification process should be underway simultaneously. The treaty must be ratified by both houses of the Russian parliament and by the U.S. Senate before it can take effect.
The widely hailed new pact is conducive to easing frustrated U.S.-Russian ties and pushing forward nuclear disarmament and the non-proliferation process on a global scale.
Earlier on Thursday, head of Russian Federation Council's International Committee Mikhail Margelov voiced confidence that the U.S. Congress was able to finish the ratification before its August recess, despite the fact that such ratifying process was not easy.
In a joint statement issued on May 14 in Washington, Russia and the United States said the new START marked the "final end of the Cold War."
"It lays the foundation for qualitatively new bilateral relations in the strategic military field and, in effect, marks the final end of the 'Cold War' period," said the statement.
