Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the United States on reduction of their nuclear arsenals

The Secretary-General welcomes the Joint Understanding for a follow-on agreement to the Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START) between President Medvedev and President Obama yesterday in Moscow, which commits Russia and the United States to reduce their strategic warheads to a range of 1,500-1,675, and their strategic delivery vehicles to a range of 500-1,000.

This agreement is consistent with the disarmament obligations by the two largest nuclear-weapon States under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The Secretary-General believes 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.