New START Treaty: In News
US President Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s idea of the New START Treaty was a good one.
- It is known as The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).
- It is the last remaining nuclear arms deal between Russia and the United States of America, and it was extended for five years in 2021. (Extended the treaty till February 4 2026.)
- The New START caps the number of nuclear warheads well below Cold War limits.
- This treaty entered into force on February 5, 2011.
- The treaty concerns strategic weapons: usually long-range weapons designed to influence the outcome of a war, not merely a battle, by destroying power centres, command and control facilities, or key infrastructure.
- It was signed by then-presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in Prague in 2010; it came into force in 2011.
- New START replaced the 1991 START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, and superseded the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), which terminated when New START entered into force.
- Both Russia and the United States announced that they met New START limitations by Feb. 5, 2018.
