United Nations Radio

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed an understanding reached in Moscow by the leaders of the United States and Russia on cutting nuclear weapons.

Ban Ki-moon

United States President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday agreed on the Joint Understanding for a follow-on agreement to the Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty which expires in December.

The agreement commits Russia and the United States to reduce their strategic warheads, and their strategic delivery vehicles.

The Secretary-General says this agreement is consistent with the disarmament obligations by the two largest nuclear-weapon States under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Mr. Ban says he believes that this agreement will make a significant contribution to the process of nuclear disarmament.

He adds that it will also contribute to nuclear non-proliferation during the lead up to the conference to review the NPT in 2010 and eventually to achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.

Gerry Adams, United Nations.

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