UN chief welcomes US-Russia arms reduction pact

New York, July 8

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday praised the new pact by the US and Russia to reduce by as much as a third of their nuclear arsenals, which was reached in Moscow between the leaders of the two countries.

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed Monday a Joint Understanding for a follow-on agreement to the Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START), committing themselves to reduce strategic warheads to a range of 1,500-1,675, and their strategic delivery vehicles to a range of 500-1,000.

Ban said the agreement is consistent with disarmament obligations by the two largest nuclear-weapon states under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

"I believe that this agreement will make a significant contribution to the process of nuclear disarmament as well as nuclear non-proliferation during the lead up to the 2010 NPT Review Conference and eventually to achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world," Ban said in a statement.

The UN will conduct a review of the NPT next year with the aim of strengthening global disarmament efforts.

Last updated on Jul 8^th, 2009 at 06:58 am IST--DPA

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