Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed the pact at a ceremony in the medieval Prague Castle after talks that covered nuclear security, Iran's atomic programme and an uprising in the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan, where both major powers have military bases (EurActiv 08/04/10).
Obama said the agreement had "ended the drift" in relations between Moscow and Washington and sent a strong signal that the two powers - which together possess 90% of all atomic weapons - were taking their disarmament obligations seriously.
"We are working together at the United Nations Security Council to pass strong sanctions on Iran and we will not tolerate actions that flout the NPT," he said, referring to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"My expectation is that we are going to be able to secure strong, tough sanctions on Iran this spring," he added.
US shifts doctrine
Obama this week announced a shift in US nuclear doctrine, pledging never to use atomic weapons against non-nuclear states, as he sought to build momentum for a 12-13 April nuclear security summit in Washington.
Obama's new nuclear strategy document broke with former President George W. Bush's threat of nuclear retaliation in the event of a biological or chemical attack.
The assurance applies only to countries in compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, so Iran and North Korea would not receive that commitment.
The US president reaffirmed the long-term goal he set in a speech at the same Prague Castle a year ago (EurActiv 05/04/10) to work towards a world without nuclear weapons and said Medvedev would visit the United States later this year to discuss further cooperation, including withdrawing short-range tactical nuclear weapons.
Both men said they hoped and expected the new treaty would be ratified this year. Medvedev, mindful of past problems in winning approval in the treaty-shy US Senate, said the ratification process should "proceed simultaneously". Obama said he was convinced there would be bipartisan Senate support.
Missile defence still an irritant
Medvedev reaffirmed Moscow's warning that it could withdraw from the treaty if US missile defence plans undermined the basis for strategic arms control.
The Russian government adopted a 'unilateral statement' stating that if there is a qualitative and quantitative build-up in the US missile defence system, such a development would justify Russia's withdrawal from the 'New START' treaty signed yesterday.
After Obama announced last September that the US would rethink a missile shield system imagined by his predecessor and planned to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, Russia welcomed a "new beginning" in its relations with NATO.
However, soon after, Romania announced it had accepted an invitation from Obama to host a similar shield on its soil (EurActiv 05/02/10).
Eastern fears
Later on Thursday, Obama hosted a dinner with 11 heads of state from Central and Eastern Europe. Czech diplomats said the meeting was designed to reassure former Soviet bloc countries that resetting relations with Russia would not diminish US interests in the region.
In Central and Eastern Europe, where memories of Soviet domination are still vivid, there is widespread support for keeping US nukes as a symbol of America's commitment to the region's security.
By contrast, in many Western European countries, public opinion and governments tend to support the removal of the estimated 200 US tactical nuclear bombs that are still deployed on the continent.
Twenty-two East European political figures from Eastern Europe recently sent an open letter to Obama, calling on the US for a "renaissance" of NATO as the most important security link between the United States and Europe. They also called on Obama not to abandon plans for US missile defence stationed in Europe, and warned against involving Russia "too deeply" in the plan.
White House officials said Washington's relationships with Moscow and those with Central and Eastern European countries should not be viewed as a "zero-sum game".
"This notion that somehow if we work with Russia that's to the disadvantage of our allies, like the Czech Republic, that's absolutely absurd," Michael McFaul, a senior Russia adviser to Obama, said in the Czech capital.
Czech President Václav Klaus said before the dinner that he trusted the US assurances.
"President Obama wants - that is why he invited our neighbours in Central and Eastern Europe -- to convince them that this (scrapping of the missile shield) was not any signal that America is forgetting about this part of the world," he said.
"These are the exact sentences he said and I have no reason not to believe it."
Under a revamped plan, Obama's administration wants to deploy different missile interceptors in Romania and Bulgaria.
Where is the EU in Prague?
Meanwhile, the absence of an EU representative at the Prague meeting was met with scepticism in Brussels.
Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament, lamented the absence of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton from the Prague summit.
"At a time when the EU is struggling to shape its foreign policy structures to have more influence on a global level, this meeting represents a 'lose-lose' situation for both the EU member states attending [...] and the EU," Verhofstadt said.
Asked by journalists why this was the case, the Commission played down the significance of the event. The Prague meeting is an arrangement between "two nuclear powers, two third countries," said a Commission spokesperson.
"The fact that Mr. Obama decided to invite 11 leaders from Eastern European countries is not negative information for us," the spokesperson added.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
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