The US and Russia are the largest holders of nuclear weapons around the globe 95%. With the need to reduce the total number of nuclear weapons held by the two countries, over the past 40 years different bilateral agreements have been used by the two states to reduce and limit the total number of nuclear weapons they hold. Key among these progressive bilateral agreements is the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) treaties signed by different leaders of the two countries in the last 30 years. While START I was signed in 1991, New START was signed in 2010. The treaties on the reduction of the total number of nuclear weapons are of great significance as they are key to control of the production and use of nuclear power across the globe (Purev-Ochir 73-4).
The START treaties have been signed progressively since 1991, with four START treaties signed by the presidents of the US and Russia. President Ronald Reagan signed START I treaty while the last treaty New START was signed by President Obama and Vladimir Putin in 2010 (Roberts 4-9). All the four START treaties were geared towards ensuring that reducing the total number of nuclear weapons used by the two countries and each START treaty covered a specified period.
Currently, the new START treaty that was signed in 2010 by the presidents of the US and Russia is in implementation. The legally binding agreement limits each of the countries to 1550 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on 700 strategic delivery systems and limits deployed and non-deployed launchers to 800. Sharing of missile test data is also covered under the treaty for ten years (up to 2021) (Cimbala 13-14).
Works cited
Cimbala, Stephen J. "Nuclear Arms Reductions after New START: Incremental or Transformative?." The Journal of Slavic Military Studies 24.1 (2011): 1-25.
Purev-Ochir, Miga. "US-Russian relations in a post-cold war world." Harvard International Review 36.3 (2015): 72-76.
Roberts, Kari. "Détente 2.0? The Meaning Of Russia's 'Reset' With The United States." International Studies Perspectives 15.1 (2014): 1-18. https://academic.oup.com/isp/article/15/1/1/1847703. Accessed 31st Oct 2018.
