U.S.-Russia nuclear deal: spin or deep cut?

By Guy Faulconbridge - Analysis

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev on Monday agreed a target of cutting vast Cold War arsenals of deployed nuclear warheads by around a third from current levels to 1,500-1,675 each.

The pledge by Obama and Medvedev puts the world's two biggest nuclear powers further along the path to finding a replacement for the landmark 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1) which expires on December 5.

But the cuts announced on Monday only take the United States and Russia 25 operationally deployed warheads below a range of 1,700-2,200, which both sides had already committed to reach by 2012 under the 2002 Moscow Treaty.

After the cuts -- which have to be made within seven years of a new treaty taking force -- the United States and Russia will still have enough firepower to destroy the world several times over. Many hurdles remain to finding a replacement to START by December.

Russia and the United States are still haggling over what exactly constitutes a nuclear weapon and the Kremlin is deeply opposed to U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Europe.

NUCLEAR CUTS

Finding agreement on a replacement for START-1, signed by George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev just months before the close of the Cold War, is seen by both sides as a way to "reset" relations after the friction of recent years.

Presidents Obama and Medvedev agreed at their first meeting in London on April 1 to pursue new reductions to strategic nuclear weapons and instructed negotiators to begin talks on a replacement for START-1.

This was already a step forward because Obama's predecessor George W. Bush showed little interest in a successor treaty to START-1, arguing that it was not necessary. Obama, however, has made nuclear disarmament a priority.

The cuts announced on Monday came after negotiators worked through the weekend to get a deal for the presidents to sign, diplomats said.

"It's better to be talking than fighting but there's a lot of talking to go," said John Isaacs, executive director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington.

"The basic flavor is they've made some progress but not many concrete results. President Bush messed up a lot of things but it will take more than eight months to fix," he said.

"It will take a while to get to the really deep cuts in warheads and it will take another agreement after this one."

Officials say an agreement on a START treaty that slashed nuclear weapons would help Washington and Moscow to set an example to other countries ahead of talks next year on revising the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

But Russia and the United States still currently hold 95 percent of the world's nuclear warheads.