The Russian and U.S. parliaments are planning to prepare a new strategic arms cuts treaty for ratification by late July, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Russia and the United States signed the new treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons in Prague on April 8. The document will replace the START 1 treaty, which expired in December 2009.
The new pact stipulates that the number of nuclear warheads is to be reduced to 1,550 on each side, while the number of deployed and non-deployed delivery vehicles must not exceed 800 on each side.
U.S. President Barack Obama submitted the document to the U.S. Senate for ratification on May 13. His Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev handed over the treaty to the Russian parliament's lower house, the State Duma, on May 28.
Konstantin Kosachyov, who heads the international affairs committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, said Russian and U.S. lawmakers were continuing consultations on the issue.
Medvedev and Obama have agreed that the ratification processes should be simultaneous.
MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti)
