Norway welcomes new START Treaty on nuclear disarmament

“I am very pleased that Russia has now ratified the new START Treaty on strategic nuclear arms reduction,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

The Russian Parliament approved the new treaty today. It has already been approved for ratification in the US. The treaty is the most important disarmament agreement to be concluded between the US and Russia in almost 20 years. It limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads in each of the two countries to 1550.

“The US and Russia hold more than 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons. This gives these two countries a particular responsibility for nuclear disarmament. It is a step in the right direction that the new treaty will now be able to enter into force,” said Mr Støre.

Reductions in the number of nuclear weapons are important for our security. I hope that the new treaty will lead to a broader disarmament process that results in further reductions and includes all categories of nuclear weapons. The goal is a nuclear-weapon-free world,” said Foreign Minister Støre.