On March 24, 2010, the US and Russia reached an agreement to reduce nuclear arms. The agreement was the first between the two nuclear powers in nearly two decades, seeking to replace and build off of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I Treaty). The New START [PDF] cuts about one-third of nuclear weapons that the US and Russia currently have deployed over ten years. The agreement was signed on April 8, 2010, in Prague by President Barack Obama and President Dmitri Medvedev and took legal effect in February 2011. The treaty was considered a key part of easing tensions between the former Cold War rivals, whose nuclear arsenals comprises 95 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.

Russian coat of arms

Learn more about the laws governing nuclear non-profliferation from the JURIST news archive.

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