[JURIST] In a telephone conversation Saturday, US President Barack Obama and Russia President Dmitry Medvedev approved of progress towards the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty since 1991. Wrapping up talks on the treaty to replace the recently expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I Treaty), Obama and Medvedev reviewed the negotiations, agreed to provide additional guidance to delegations, and discussed plans for bilateral contacts. The landmark treaty will include significant reductions in both the number of deployed nuclear weapons as well as the number of nuclear-delivery systems. Although a no time frame was given, the Kremlin says the conversation opened the possibility for setting a firm date for signing. White House National Security Council spokesperson Mike Hammer described the talks as encouraging, saying that both Obama and Medvedev are committed to reaching an agreement soon. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit Moscow on Thursday and Friday where she will discuss START with Russia Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov.
Both US and Russia officials have recently expressed a desire to have the treaty in place prior to the upcoming Global Nuclear Security Summit in April, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May. Last month, US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller went to Paris to finalize the treaty after Obama and Medvedev reached an in-principle agreement. In January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that nuclear arms reduction negotiations with the US were likely to resume in early February. Nuclear disarmament between the US and Russia, whose nuclear arsenals comprise 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, languished during the Bush administration. The treaty is considered a key part of easing tensions between the former Cold War rivals, which reached their worst point after the 2008 Georgia conflict. Advocacy groups, including the Arms Control Association, support the treaty for not only limiting the number of nuclear weapons, but for also providing methods for each side to moderator the other. The US and Russia began nuclear disarmament talks last April and originally set a deadline for December, when START I expired. Last July, Obama and Medvedev agreed to tentative terms for the treaty.