Russian Parliament Duma ratifies New Start

• The Russian Parliament on Tuesday ratified a historic nuclear arms pact with the United States that was approved by the U.S. Senate last month.
• The New Start would limit each country to 1,550 strategic warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200, as well as re-establish a system for monitoring that lapsed when a previous arms control pact expired a year ago.
• The Russian ratification law said Russia could withdraw from the pact if the U.S. builds a global missile shield or deploys new non-nuclear strategic weapons.