On Saturday Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exchanged the instruments of ratification for the New START arms reduction treaty and the document came into force, RIA Novosti reports.
The new deal replaced START 1, which expired in December 2009. The document was signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama in Prague in April 2010.
The document slashes the Russian and U.S. strategic nuclear arsenals to a maximum of 1,550 warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200.
