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It may not be before Start-1 expires on December 5, but Russia and the United States will sign a deal to cut cold war nuclear arsenals by the end of the year.
“This treaty is a great move ahead and will improve relations between the United States and Russia,” said Roland Timerbayev, a former Soviet ambassador and nuclear arms negotiator….
Obama and [Russian President Dmitry] Medvedev (r), who had promised to find a replacement for the deal by the time START-1 expired, agreed in July to cut the number of deployed nuclear weapons by around a third from current levels to 1,500-1,675 each.
[...]
Diplomats on both sides have hailed the talks as evidence that relations between the Obama administration and Moscow are improving, though some analysts have warned that the negotiations are being rushed to ensure a deal by the year-end.
The currently announced cuts would take the United States and Russia only 25 operationally deployed warheads below a range of 1,700-2,200 which both sides had already committed to reach by 2012 under a 2002 treaty.
But don’t worry, each side will still have enough firepower to destroy the world many times over.
