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Russian, U.S. presidents discuss new START treaty ratification on phone

24 December 2010 00:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama discussed the American Senate’s ratification of the new arms reduction treaty between the two countries, the Kremlin said, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

"It was stressed that this step enables to secure the results of joint efforts to build a mutually respectful and constructive partnership between Russia and the United States," the Kremlin said in a statement following a telephone conversation between the presidents late on Thursday night.

The statement also said that the presidents highly evaluated results of the Russian and American cooperation this year and confirmed their intentions to develop this cooperation further.

In December, Obama delayed his vacation for the painstaking effort to convince the Senate to ratify the pact. The Senate eventually passed its resolution by a 71-26 vote on Wednesday in what is seen as a political victory for the U.S. president, who counts the reset of relations with Russia as a major foreign policy achievement.

The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, begins first reading debates on the ratification of the new treaty on Friday.

The new treaty, which has won the backing of the world’s top figures, including NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, trims the Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals to a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200.