U.S. Senate approves New START with Russia

• The United States Senate on Wednesday handed President Barack Obama his second major bipartisan victory during its ongoing lame-duck session when it passed the New START treaty, an arms reduction agreement with Russia.
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said once the treaty entered into force, the resumption of on-site inspections of Russia's strategic nuclear weapons facilities would provide the U.S. with an on-the-ground view of Russia's nuclear forces.
• The New START treaty was initially signed in April this year. In it, both countries agreed to aggregate limits of 1,550 warheads; a combined limit of 800 deployed and non-deployed Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile launchers, Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments; and separate limit of 700 deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments.
• The treaty also came with a verification regime that combined elements of the 1991 START Treaty with new elements tailored to the limitations of the Treaty. In this regard the White House had stated that measures under the new treaty included "on-site inspections and exhibitions, data exchanges and notifications related to strategic offensive arms and facilities covered by the Treaty."