On January 28, 2011, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed into law a bill that ratifies the New START treaty, an international agreement between Russia and the US to reduce nuclear arms in both countries. The bill was unanimously approved by the Russian Parliament's upper house. New START calls for each country to reduce their nuclear arsenal by 30 percent — each country will be allowed 1,550 warheads as opposed to the 2,200 allowed under the old Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that was set to expire in December 2012. The treaty was approved by the US Senate on December 22, 2010, by a vote of 71-26, and was ratified by US President Barack Obama on February 2, 2011. New START took legal effect on February 5, 2011.

Russian coat of arms

Learn more about Russia and the the laws regarding nuclear weapons from the JURIST news archive and read commentary on New START from JURIST Guest Columnist David Kreiger in Hotline.

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