President Barack Obama has promised Dmitry Medvedev that he will continue to push the United States Senate to ratify the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. And Vice-President Joe Biden has warned Republicans on Capitol Hill that failure to ratify the treaty will “endanger our national security”.
The moves come as it begins to look as if two of Mr Obama’s key foreign policy initiatives – a cut in the number of nuclear weapons and better relations with Moscow – are running into trouble after the “shellacking” the Democrats took in the mid-term elections.
Republicans say New Start – the nuclear arms control treaty signed in April – is unlikely to be ratified this year but the White House fears that if it is delayed until next year then it is, effectively, dead in the water.
In the absence of a peace deal in the Middle East, Mr Obama had hoped his bid to “reset” relations between America and Russia would be a lasting legacy of his presidency.
