US Senate approves nuclear arms treaty with Russia

The U.S. Senate approved a landmark nuclear arms control treaty with Russia on Wednesday, handing President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory in his drive to improve ties with Moscow and curb the spread of atomic weapons to other nations.

"This treaty will enhance our leadership to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and seek the peace of a world without them," Obama told a news conference after the vote, praising the bipartisan nature of the final result.

The vote was an endorsement of Obama's efforts to improve relations with Russia and curb the pursuit of nuclear weapons by countries like North Korea and Iran.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov welcomed the vote, telling the Interfax news agency it helped moves aimed at "advancing and dynamically developing our relations."

In Moscow, officials will review the U.S. Senate's resolution but the Kremlin-backed United Russia party dominates parliament, so ratification there is all but assured.

Senator John Kerry, who led the debate as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the treaty sent a message to Iran and North Korea "that the international community remains united to restrain the nuclear ambitions of countries that operate outside the law."

"We send a message that the two countries that possess 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons are fulfilling their obligations to reduce their arsenals in a responsible manner," Kerry said.

The treaty -- signed by Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April -- will cut long-range, strategic nuclear weapons deployed by Russia and the United States to no more than 1,550 within seven years. Deployed missile launchers will be cut to no more than 700.

The agreement also creates an inspection and verification process to replace the one that expired nearly a year ago with the end of the original START accord.

The treaty has wide support in military and diplomatic circles. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it would make a "significant contribution to Euro-Atlantic security" and lead to "progress on conventional and nuclear arms control initiatives."

U.S. CREDIBILITY AT STAKE

Passage of the treaty with support from 13 Republicans was a big victory for Obama just weeks after his Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives and retained the Senate with a slim majority in the Nov. 2 congressional elections.

Republican senators had sought to amend the treaty this week to allow for more inspections, more deployed missiles and to force talks on tactical nuclear weapons. But Democrats, who control the chamber 58-42, easily defeated the amendments.

Kerry said Senate approval was important for sustaining Obama's credibility with fellow world leaders and supporting his ability to advance the U.S. agenda.

"It is critical," Kerry said. "If leaders in the rest of the world look at the president of the United States and say 'Well he's not going to be able to make this happen,' they're going to be far less willing to go out on a limb."

Officials in the Obama administration have said passage of the New START treaty was a prerequisite for turning to other arms control issues such as reducing tactical nuclear weapons.

But Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate and an opponent of New START, said he would fight any effort to revive the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

"This may be the last arms control agreement for a while," Kyl said. "I think we can get back to focusing on the real issues -- issues of proliferation, terrorism and dealing with threats from countries like North Korea and Iran."

But arms control groups disagreed, hailing the treaty as a step in the right direction. The National Security Network said it "exemplified a move away from Cold War thinking and toward more effective action to combat 21st century threats."

"I think this does augur well for the Senate's pursuing further fact-based, adult conversations about nuclear security issues and I'm optimistic about the prospects for building upon this bipartisan consensus," Daryl Kimball, director of the nonpartisan Arms Control Association.

Russian officials said they would review the U.S. Senate's resolution of ratification, which contains numerous statements of U.S. understanding and clarification about the treaty.

"Without question it is great that the long and difficult process of review of the agreement by America's senators ended in its successful ratification," said Leonid Slutsky, deputy chairman of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee.

"But taking into account the amendments added by senators, we are forced to undertake a deep and thorough analysis of the text ... since we are speaking about the national security of our country."