A high level Russian Government source tells Fox News the arms treaty is basically done.
The replacement to START, The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, is “basically finished except for a few minor details, all the major issues are solved” said the source.
The source tells Fox News U.S. President Obama and his Russian counterpart President Medvedev will sign the new treaty in a month, and discussions are now underway to determine where the signing will take place. Not in Russia or America, but likely in a third Country says the source.
The major stumbling block has been Americas missile defense system and Russia’s unwillingness to separate defensive systems from offensive systems. (Defensive being the shield, offensive being numbers of nukes and delivery systems). The Russian source tells Fox News the new agreement ties the two together, but no details on how it does that. The source would not be specific. But another highyl placed source in the Government here, said it will be in text of the agreement that the two issues are linked, offensive and defensive, otherwise “there would be no chance of having this ratified by the Russia parliament” he said.
The new treaty will reduce nuclear warheads down to roughly 1600 each and about 500 delivery vehicles. (Missiles, aircraft and subs). An over all reduction of over 30% of nuclear stockpiles in American and Russia respectively.
Alreadty independant arms reduction groups are calling on Russia and America to negotiate further cuts in nuclear arms beyond this new treaty to replace the START agreement which expired in December.