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Friday, 28.01.2011
Lower and Upper house ratify START-3 treaty
Moscow. As the State Duma ratified the Treaty on Succession disarmament of strategic nuclear weapons (START), the Federation Council followed suit today. Now the Russian President has the last word.
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As expected, the Russian senators agreed unanimously on the ratification of the disarmament treaty with the United States. They also signed off an additional resolution that was introduced by the Duma keeping a door open to get out of the agreement if necessary.
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Nuclear reduction
At the presentation of the treaty which was signed in Prague on April 10th 2010 by Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in front of the world audience, Mikhail Margelov, Chairman of the Upper House of the Russian Foreign Affairs Committee stated 'This contract reduces the global nuclear threat'.
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Indeed the strategic nuclear arsenals are to be slimmed down over the next seven years – but 700 deployable ground and submarine launchers and long distance bombers(or 800 which includes non-deployable systems) as well as their 1550 warheads will remain.
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National Safety is first priority Even as this all sounds positive: the air between the two Superpowers is not as clear as it seems. As suggested by the Duma Russia keeps the right to terminate the agreement should the US implement their plans on setting up a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
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It is stated at one point that Russia may cancel the agreement should US plans violate qualitatively the National Security and defense capability of the Russian Federation. Russia may also cancel should such plans be introduced without a decision of the bilateral board that is being created as per the START agreement.
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Irreconcilable positions
Furthermore it is stressed that the preamble of the treaty, which establishes a connection between the disarmament of strategic weapons and the deployment of defense systems, must be fully taken into account by all parties and has full legal validity.
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This is a sore point as the US senators had actually declared the exact opposite at the ratification of the treaty in congress. They do not see a connection between the two spheres nor do they give it any legal validity. With this contradiction the new treaty comes into effect.
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Irreconcilable positions
With the ratification by the courts in both countries, the START follow-up contract enters its final stage before it comes into effect.
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First of all it needs to be signed by the presidents of Russia and the USA then the exchange of the ratification documents can take place.
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