U.S.-Russia nuclear deal - spin or deep cuts?

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev agreed on Monday to cut vast Cold War arsenals of operationally deployed nuclear warheads to 1,500-1675.

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 the 1,700-2,200 range which both sides agreed to reach by 2012 under the 2002 Moscow Treaty.

"Within seven years after this treaty comes into force, and in future, the limits for strategic delivery systems should be within the range of 500-1,100 units and for warheads linked to them within the range of 1,500-1,675 units," according to the framework agreement.

After the cuts, 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 aim is to reduce the number of deployed warheads below the 1,700-2,200 range which both sides agreed to reach by 2012 under a successor pact -- known as the Moscow Treaty or Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) -- signed in 2002.

Officials say an agreement on START 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.

MISSILE Defense

Russia is deeply opposed to U.S. plans to station anti-missile batteries and radar detection systems in the Czech Republic and Poland as part of a global system to spot and shoot down hostile enemy rockets before they reach the U.S.