The new Russian-U.S. START treaty has been forwarded to the U.S. Senate for ratification, White House spokesman Bill Burton said on Thursday.
"START is going up to the Senate today," Burton said.
The new START treaty, signed on April 8 in Prague, replaces the 1991 pact that expired in December. The deal is expected to bring Moscow and Washington to a new level of cooperation in the field of nuclear disarmament and arms control.
U.S. President Barack Obama informed his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev during a phone conversation on Thursday that the treaty had been forwarded for ratification.
The Kremlin later confirmed Russia was ready to simultaneously ratify the treaty with the U.S.
The Kremlin said that the two heads of state had discussed a wide range of bilateral and international issues in a detailed, constructive conversation that lasted about 90 minutes.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that a package of documents related to the treaty would be submitted soon to the lower house of parliament.
Both presidents earlier agreed that the ratification of the treaty must occur simultaneously.
"The presidents have repeatedly expressed interest in the simultaneous ratification of the document by the parliaments of two countries," Russian president's press secretary Nataliya Timakova said.
Experts believe that the ratification process in the United States could meet strong opposition from Republican lawmakers who want to press the administration to commit to modernizing the U.S. nuclear forces while the reductions are underway.
The new treaty on strategic arms cuts stipulates that the number of nuclear warheads be reduced to 1,550 on each side over seven years, while the number of delivery vehicles, both deployed and non-deployed, must not exceed 800.
The pact must be approved by both houses of the Russian parliament and by the U.S. Senate to come into force.
WASHINGTON, May 13 (RIA Novosti)
