BERLIN: President Barack Obama will say on Wednesday he will pursue a new reduction in deployed nuclear weapons by up to a third below the level achieved in the “New START” treaty with Russia, a senior administration official said.
“The President will also articulate the goal of reducing US and Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, pledging to work with NATO allies to develop proposals that can be explored with Russia to achieve this goal,” the official said.
The “New START” treaty was signed in 2010.
Obama is due to speak in Berlin at 12:30 pm (1030 GMT), a city where John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan gave defiant Cold War speeches.
It comes after Obama met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit, where the two signed a new agreement on nuclear nonproliferation to replace the 1992 Nunn-Lugar agreement, which expired on Monday.
“The US intent is to seek negotiated cuts with Russia so that we can continue to move beyond Cold War nuclear postures,” the official said. (Reuters)
