21 March 2002

U.S., Russia Hold Third Session of Arms Reduction Negotiations

Geneva -- U.S. and Russian negotiators "are making progress" on a legally binding document on arms control reductions for signature by Presidents Bush and Putin at their next summit, according to a senior U.S. official.

The agreement would reduce the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 strategic nuclear weapons, as announced by the two presidents at the Washington/Crawford summit last November.

A U.S. inter-agency team headed by John R. Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, met in Geneva March 21 with Russian counterparts led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov.

The session held in Geneva is the third in what negotiators have dubbed the "Bolton-Mamedov Channel." Two previous sessions were held in Washington and Moscow. The Geneva talks are alternating between the U.S. and Russian diplomatic missions near the United Nations, and will continue for a second day on March 22.

Negotiators are working on a codification "of the agreements between the two presidents on offensive nuclear weapons and also to make progress on a political declaration on the new strategic framework, which will be announced by the two presidents when President Bush goes to Moscow in May," the official explained.

The aim is to have the documents ready for signature by U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their next summit scheduled for May 23-26 in Moscow.

The United States wants the reductions to focus on the category of warheads that pose the greatest immediate threat: operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads that are already on ICBMs, on submarines, or associated with heavy bombers at heavy bomber bases.

A count based on "operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads" is different from the counting rules used for START I and START II which applied the concept of "attribution," the official explained. For example, under START I, a Russian SS-18 with a warhead capability of 10 re-entry vehicles would count for 10 even if it only had a single re-entry vehicle on it.

The new counting method will be a "completely accurate count of what is available to be used immediately," the official said.

The official would not speculate on what the new agreement might eventually be called, but the never-ratified START II treaty -- which envisaged reductions to a level of 3000 to 3500 accountable warheads -- will effectively disappear if a more far reaching new agreement is successfully completed.

The START I treaty -- which limits the two sides to 6000 accountable warheads and 1,600 deployed strategic nuclear delivery systems -- will remain in effect.

The official dismissed a press report that the agreement might be finalized at the end of the two-day Geneva meeting, saying additional discussions would be necessary, including a meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to be held in early April.