A senior Russian lawmaker will fly to the United States on Wednesday to prepare a coordinated ratification of a new strategic arms reduction treaty.
Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, expressed hope on the eve of his trip to Washington that the document would be signed in the first quarter of this year, and said the sides planned to discuss various aspects of the ratification process.
"Together with the colleagues from the U.S. Senate we will carry out preparatory work for the synchronized ratification of the treaty," Margelov said.
The new treaty's outline, as agreed by the Russian and U.S. presidents, includes cutting nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675 operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.
Disagreements over verification and control procedures have prevented Moscow and Washington from signing a new deal before the New Year break to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1), which expired on December 5.
However, U.S. and Russian arms control negotiators have recently said they reached an "agreement in principle" on the new document.
Margelov said the ratification of the new treaty by the Russian parliament could take about a month, but the U.S. Congress may face "a more serious work" because of bipartisan disagreements over the risks and potential threats involved.
"It is important that the new Russian-American treaty...does not fall victim to the bipartisan disagreements between the Republicans and the Democrats, as it happened with some other international documents," the Russian senator said.
Striking a new comprehensive arms reduction deal is widely seen as crucial to improving relations between Russia and the United States.
The new document must be ratified by lawmakers in Moscow and Washington before it comes into effect.
MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti)
