U.S., RUSSIA SIGN NUCLEAR ARMS PACT

 Presidents Barack Obama of the United States and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia signed a Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which will reduce their nuclear weapons stockpiles by a third.
 The START deal, which will last for 10 years, was signed at a meeting in Prague, where Mr. Obama outlined his vision for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation about a year ago.
 Speaking after the signing, Mr. Obama said: “This day demonstrates the determination of the United States and Russia — the two nations that hold over 90 per cent of the world's nuclear weapons — to pursue responsible global leadership.”
 Describing the deal as a “win-win” for both countries, Mr. Medvedev said: “This agreement enhances strategic ability and, at the same time, allows us to rise to a higher level of cooperation between Russia and the United States.”

 The agreement succeeds the 1991 START, which expired in December. It will have to be ratified by the U.S. Senate and the Russian Parliament.
 The new treaty limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 — about a third less than the 2,200 currently allowed. It also mandates a combined limit of 800 deployed and non-deployed Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile launchers, Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile launchers and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments; and a separate limit of 700 deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments.
 The White House noted that the warheads on deployed ICBMs and SLBMs will count toward the limit and each deployed heavy bomber equipped for nuclear armaments

would count as one warhead toward this limit. The warhead limit itself is 74 per cent lower than the limit of the 1991 treaty and 30 per cent lower than the deployed strategic warhead limit of the 2002 Moscow Treaty, a White House statement added. Further, the limit on launchers and bombers is less than half the corresponding strategic nuclear delivery vehicle limit of the previous START.
 The agreement also comes less than a week before a 47-nation Nuclear Security Summit that Mr. Obama is hosting in Washington. On April 12-13, leaders from a range of nuclear and non-nuclear powers, including India, will discuss issues surrounding nuclear proliferation and security.