US and Russia to scale down nuclear arsenals
Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev sign declaration pledging to reduce their respective nuclear arsenals
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Monday, 06, Jul 2009 04:04
US president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev have signed a declaration pledging to reduce their respective nuclear arsenals.
Following discussions in Moscow, an official agreement was announced with both countries agreeing to cut the number of warheads to 1,500 each within the next seven years.
The negotiations also resulted in an agreement to allow US troops to fly over Russia as part of the ongoing military operation in Afghanistan.
Mr Medvedev had been expected to pressure his US counterpart over the controversial plans for a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, but no official agreement was made.
Speaking at a photo call earlier, Mr Obama told the Russian president he was confident the pair could build on "excellent discussions" held during the G20 summit in London earlier this year.
"If we work hard during these next few days we can extraordinary progress which will help people in both our countries," he said.
At a joint news conference later on Monday both leaders agreed the discussions had been positive but further negotiations were required.
Mr Obama said they were committed to "leaving behind the suspicions of the past".
And commenting on the planned missile shield, the US president said both nations had agreed further talks were needed to resolve the issue.
He said the US viewed the shield as a priority in dealing with missiles coming from Iran, North Korea or another state, but not Russia.
On Tuesday, Mr Obama will meet with the man who many analysts believe still has huge influence over Russian affairs - the prime minister Vladimir Putin.