UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has praised the ratification of a new strategic arms reduction deal by the Russian parliament, his spokesman said.
Both houses of the Russian parliament have ratified the new arms reduction deal between Russia and the United States, paving the way for the president to sign the ratification into law.
"The Secretary-General welcomes the adoption of the law on ratification of the new START Treaty by the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, thereby allowing the Treaty to enter into force," Ban's spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday.
The new arms reduction pact, replacing START 1, which expired in December 2009, was signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama in Prague in April, 2010. The document slashes the Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals to a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200.
The U.S. Senate ratified the deal on December 22, 2010, but added several amendments to the resolution on ratification, including a demand to build up U.S. global missile defenses.
Russian lawmakers also added some provisions to the ratification document and issued two supplementary statements to the resolution on ratification of the agreement.
"The Secretary-General hopes that the Russian Federation and the United States build on this momentum and engage in follow-up efforts in order to achieve deeper reductions in all types of nuclear weapons," Ban's spokesman said.
NEW YORK, January 27 (RIA Novosti)
