President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday submitted the new Russian-U.S. strategic arms treaty for ratification to the lower house of Russia's parliament.
"Today I have submitted the strategic offensive arms reduction treaty with the United States for ratification," he said, urging Russian lawmakers to approve it simultaneously with the U.S. Senate.
Leonid Slutsky, first deputy head of the State Duma international relations committee, said the treaty could be ratified at the beginning of the fall session, which opens in September.
"All ratification procedures will proceed simultaneously with our American colleagues - senators of the U.S. Congress," Slutsky said.
He said parliamentary hearings could be held in the State Duma before July.
The new START treaty, signed on April 8 in Prague, replaces the 1991 pact that expired in December. The deal is expected to bring Moscow and Washington to a new level of cooperation in the field of nuclear disarmament and arms control.
The treaty stipulates that the number of nuclear warheads be reduced to 1,550 on each side over seven years, while the number of delivery vehicles, both deployed and non-deployed, must not exceed 800.
U.S. President Barack Obama told Medvedev on May 13 the United States had already submitted the document for ratification to the Senate.
On May 26, Obama called on the Senate Republicans at a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill to cooperate in the soonest possible ratification of the strategic arms reduction deal with Russia
The U.S. and Russian presidents earlier agreed that the ratification processes should be simultaneous.
MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti)
