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VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A day after his country tested a long-range missile, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he is seeking information on U.S. defense plans. Putin, speaking Tuesday in Vladivostok in eastern Russia, said U.S. plans for defensive shields forces Moscow to develop additional offensive weapons to keep a "balance." He said if the United States had a strategic edge it may become more "aggressive." The United States and Russia are in negotiations to find a successor for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991. That agreement expired Dec. 5.

Obama, Medvedev Call for Cut to 1,500-1,675 Nuclear Warheads Title only - story to follow

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53735 Obama, Medvedev Commit to Reduce Nuclear Arms, Reset Relationship By Fred W. Baker III American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 1, 2009 – The leaders of the world’s two largest nuclear superpowers today agreed to start new talks aimed at reducing nuclear arms stockpiles, and to use the platform to “reset” relationships between the United States and Russia. “What I believe we've begun today is a very constructive dialogue that will allow us to work on issues of mutual interest,” President Barack Obama said following his first meeting with Russian President Dmitriy...

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a preliminary agreement Monday to reduce the world's two largest nuclear stockpiles by as much as a third, to the lowest levels of any U.S.-Russia accord, and counter what Obama called "a sense of drift" in the countries' relations. "We must lead by example, and that's what we are doing here today," Obama declared in Kremlin hall glittering in gold. "We resolve to reset U.S.-Russian relations so that we can cooperate more effectively in areas of common interest." The document signed by the two leaders at a Moscow summit, Obama's first...

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the ratification bill for a sweeping nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States, the Kremlin said on Saturday. The Treaty of Moscow, signed by Putin and US President George W Bush in May 2002, requires each country to reduce their nuclear arsenals by two-thirds, to 1,700 to 2,200 warheads, by 2012. The US Senate ratified the treaty in March, but the Russian parliament postponed ratification because of Moscow's opposition to the US-led war in Iraq. Both houses of parliament finally approved the accord last month at Putin's urging, and Putin and Bush formally...

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian lawmakers postponed indefinitely a vote Tuesday to ratify a U.S.-Russian nuclear arms treaty, as the parliament speaker warned that a war against Iraq could endanger the pact. The treaty, agreed to last May by Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Bush, requires that the two nations cut their strategic nuclear arsenals by about two-thirds, to 1,700 to 2,200 deployed warheads each, by 2012. The treaty was seen as more advantageous to Russia than the now-defunct START II agreement, which specifically banned Russia from deploying land-based missiles with multiple warheads. The new deal would leave it to...

Moscow has announced that it will renounce the START-2 arms control treaty, clearing the way for Russia's nuclear forces to continue deploying 154 huge, multiple warhead SS-18 "Satan" missiles that should have been scrapped under the deal. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday that START-2, signed by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin in 1993, "has been overtaken by events" and will not come into force next year as previously agreed. Specifically, the statement said, Washington had already undermined strategic arms control by unilaterally dumping the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned missile...