MOSCOW, July 9 (RIA Novosti) - Participants in the G8 summit in Italy have unanimously backed recent Russian and U.S. agreements to conclude a new strategic arms reduction deal by the end of the year, a Russian deputy foreign minister said on Thursday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama signed an agreement on Monday outlining the provisions of the final treaty, including cutting their countries' nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675 operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.
"The [G8] leaders made an important statement on the issue of non-proliferation and disarmament during the summit. The statement expressed, in particular, their unanimous and collective support of recently reached agreements between Russia and the United States, concluded at the highest level through the mutual understanding of the two presidents," Sergei Ryabkov said.
Three rounds of comprehensive talks have already been held on drafting a new nuclear arms reduction pact to replace the START 1 treaty, which expires on December 5, and a new round could begin as early as next week.
The START 1 treaty obliges Russia and the United States to reduce nuclear warheads to 6,000 and their delivery vehicles to 1,600 each. In 2002, a follow-up agreement on strategic offensive arms reduction was concluded in Moscow. The document, known as the Moscow Treaty, envisioned cuts to 1,700-2,200 warheads by December 2012.
According to a report published by the U.S. State Department in April, as of January 1 Russia had 3,909 nuclear warheads and 814 delivery vehicles, including ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and strategic bombers.
The same report said the United States had 5,576 warheads and 1,198 delivery vehicles.
