Russia and US ratify START Treaty

A nuclear arms treaty between Washington and Moscow will come into effect later today. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to exchange ratification papers on the New START Treaty with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Munich, Germany.

The treaty limits each side to 1,550 strategic warheads, down from 2,200.

The pact also re-establishes a monitoring system that ended in December 2009 with the expiration of an earlier arms deal.

“It is always very positive to have a negotiated reduction treaty between two countries either multilateral or bilateral”, says disarmament officer at Pax Christi International, Stijn Van Bever.

He told Lydia O’Kane that the church was very supportive of the START Treaty as it is with any initiative which promotes a world without nuclear arms. Listen