Russia

Reset or Retread with Russia?

Today, President Obama will meet in Moscow with Russian President Dimitrii Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for a highly anticipated and critical two-day summit. There is hope that some progress will be made on an agreement to replace the 1991 START treaty which expires in December and on nuclear arms reductions.

Posted in nuclear weapons, Russia

US, Russia Ready to Set New Nuclear Arms Limits

MOSCOW, Russia - Russian and U.S. nuclear negotiators have completed a joint statement on the framework for a new arms control agreement to replace the 1991 START I agreement which expires December 5.

A U.S. source close to the American side tells CNN that Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev will discuss the joint statement at their Monday meetings in Moscow and are expected to announce and sign it at their joint press conference Monday afternoon.

Posted in nuclear weapons, Russia

US and Russia Start Hard Bargaining Over Slashing Nuclear Weapons

The United States and Russia began the hard bargaining today over a deal to slash their stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

An American negotiating team opened the first round of talks in Moscow with Russian officials about a replacement for the landmark 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1), which expires on December 5.

Posted in nuclear weapons, Russia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2009
8:40 AM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Tel: +1-212-216-1832
Email: hrwpress@hrw.org

Russia/Georgia: Cluster Bombs’ Harm Shows Need to Join Ban

GENEVA - April 14 - The loss of lives and livelihoods from cluster munitions used by Russia and Georgia during the August 2008 armed conflict reinforces the importance of the new treaty banning the weapon, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

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Posted in cluster bombs, Russia

US and Russia to Consider Reductions of Nuclear Arsenals in Talks for New Treaty

WASHINGTON - President Obama plans to open negotiations on Wednesday to draft a new arms control treaty that could slash the American and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals by about a third and possibly lead to even deeper reductions, according to administration officials.

As Mr. Obama arrived in London on Tuesday for his first European trip as president, American and Russian officials have privately indicated that they could agree to reducing their stockpiles perhaps to about 1,500 warheads apiece, down from the 2,200 allowed under a treaty signed by President George W. Bush.

Posted in nuclear weapons, Russia

Liquid War: Postcard from Pipelineistan

What happens on the immense battlefield for the control of Eurasia will provide the ultimate plot line in the tumultuous rush towards a new, polycentric world order, also known as the New Great Game.

Posted in oil, water, Afghanistan, Asia, Iraq, Pakistan, Russia

Barack Obama, Meet Team B

President Obama received a lesson in international gamesmanship last week, when his secret offer to trade the deployment of a controversial missile defense system in Eastern Europe for Russian assistance in getting Iran to back down from its nuclear program was publicly rebuffed. The lesson? You don't get something for nothing, especially when the something you're looking for is, itself, nothing.

Posted in foreign policy, missile defense, Russia

Obama Sends Letter to Moscow on Missile Defense, Iran

$The US intercepts a short-range ballistic missile during a test in the Pacific Ocean. US President Barack Obama has written to his Russian counterpart about the relationship between US plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe and the Iranian \"threat\". (AFP)$

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama has written to his Russian counterpart about the relationship between US plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe and the Iranian "threat," a senior US official said on Tuesday.

But the overture was rebuffed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who said in Spain Tuesday that it was "not productive" to link talks over a US missile defense system in Europe with Iran's suspected nuclear program as proposed by Washington.

Posted in missile defense, Iran, Russia

President Obama Seeks Russia Deal to Slash Nuclear Weapons

President Obama will convene the most ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia for a generation, aiming to slash each country's stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent.

The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each, The Times has learnt. Key to the initiative is a review of the Bush Administration's plan for a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, a project fiercely opposed by Moscow.

Posted in nuclear weapons, Russia

Russia Drops Kaliningrad Missile Plans

MOSCOW - Russia has shelved plans to install missiles on central Europe's doorstep after detecting a cooling by the Obama administration towards a controversial US shield project, a military official said on Wednesday.

Moscow had warned it would deploy Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave wedged between NATO and EU members Poland and Lithuania, if Washington did not withdraw its controversial European missile shield plan.

Posted in missile shield, Russia