Moscow Treaty Signed (2002)
On May 24, 2002, the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Strategic Offensive Reductions (SORT), better known as the Moscow Treaty, was signed in Moscow by Russia and the United States.
The Moscow Treaty was introduced in an effort to improve diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States. Even with the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, tensions have still been high between the two nations. The Treaty was the latest in a long line of nuclear disarmament treaties between Russia and the United States, and seen as another step in establishing peace between the nations.
The Moscow Treaty, signed on May 24, 2002, saw both parties agreeing to limit their nuclear arsenal to 1700–2200 operationally deployed warheads each. The Treaty came into force in June 2003 after it was ratified by U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
Russian and U.S. delegations currently meet twice a year to discuss the implementation of the Moscow Treaty at the Bilateral Implementation Commission. The Treaty has been criticized for several reasons, particularly due to the fact that the arsenal reductions are not required to be permanent. As a result of the Treaty, President Bush directed the U.S. military to cut its stockpile of both deployed and reserve nuclear weapons in half by 2012. The goal was achieved in 2007.
Currently, the Moscow Treaty is set to expire on December 31, 2012.