Russia ratifies nuclear treaty

The upper house of Russia’s parliament has ratified the New START nuclear arms pact with the United States.

The treaty limits each country to 1,550 strategic warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200, and also re-establishes a system for monitoring that ended in December 2009 with the expiry of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

Today’s unanimous approval of the treaty by Russia’s Federation Council came one day after it was passed by the lower house of parliament.