    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [June 20, 2002]
    [Pages 1031-1033]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Senate Transmitting the Treaty Between the United States
    of America and the Russian Federation on Strategic Offensive Reductions
    June 20, 2002

    To the Senate of the United States:
        I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to
    ratification, the Treaty Between the United States of America and the
    Russian Federation on Strategic Offensive Reductions, signed at Moscow
    on May 24, 2002 (the ``Moscow Treaty'').
        The Moscow Treaty represents an important element of the new
    strategic relationship between the United States and Russia. It will
    take our two nations along a stable, predictable path to substantial
    reductions in our deployed strategic nuclear warhead arsenals by
    December 31, 2012. When these reductions are completed, each country
    will be at the lowest level of deployed strategic nuclear warheads in
    decades. This will benefit the peoples of both the United States and
    Russia and contribute to a more secure world.
        The Moscow Treaty codifies my determination to break through the
    long impasse in further nuclear weapons reductions caused by the
    inability to finalize agreements through traditional arms control
    efforts. In the decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union, both
    countries' strategic nuclear arsenals remained far larger than needed,
    even as the United States and Russia moved toward a more cooperative
    relationship. On May 1, 2001, I called for a new framework for our
    strategic relationship with Russia, including further cuts in nuclear
    weapons to reflect the reality that the Cold War is over. On November
    13, 2001, I announced the United States plan

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    for such cuts--to reduce our operationally deployed strategic nuclear
    warheads to a level of between 1700 and 2200 over the next decade. I
    announced these planned reductions following a careful study within the
    Department of Defense. That study, the Nuclear Posture Review, concluded
    that these force levels were sufficient to maintain the security of the
    United States. In reaching this decision, I recognized that it would be
    preferable for the United States to make such reductions on a reciprocal
    basis with Russia, but that the United States would be prepared to
    proceed unilaterally.
        My Russian counterpart, President Putin, responded immediately and
    made clear that he shared these goals. President Putin and I agreed that
    our nations' respective reductions should be recorded in a legally
    binding document that would outlast both of our presidencies and provide
    predictability over the longer term. The result is a Treaty that was
    agreed without protracted negotiations. This Treaty fully meets the
    goals I set out for these reductions.
        It is important for there to be sufficient openness so that the
    United States and Russia can each be confident that the other is
    fulfilling its reductions commitment. The Parties will use the
    comprehensive verification regime of the Treaty on the Reduction and
    Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the ``START Treaty'') to provide
    the foundation for confidence, transparency, and predictability in
    further strategic offensive reductions. In our Joint Declaration on the
    New Strategic Relationship between the United States and Russia,
    President Putin and I also decided to establish a Consultative Group for
    Strategic Security to be chaired by Foreign and Defense Ministers. This
    body will be the principal mechanism through which the United States and
    Russia strengthen mutual confidence, expand transparency, share
    information and plans, and discuss strategic issues of mutual interest.
        The Moscow Treaty is emblematic of our new, cooperative relationship
    with Russia, but it is neither the primary basis for this relationship
    nor its main component. The United States and Russia are partners in
    dealing with the threat of terrorism and resolving regional conflicts.
    There is growing economic interaction between the business communities
    of our two countries and ever-increasing people-to-people and cultural
    contacts and exchanges. The U.S. military has put Cold War practices
    behind it, and now plans, sizes, and sustains its forces in recognition
    that Russia is not an enemy, Russia is a friend. Military-to-military
    and intelligence exchanges are well established and growing.
        The Moscow Treaty reflects this new relationship with Russia. Under
    it, each Party retains the flexibility to determine for itself the
    composition and structure of its strategic offensive arms, and how
    reductions are made. This flexibility allows each Party to determine how
    best to respond to future security challenges.
        There is no longer the need to narrowly regulate every step we each
    take, as did Cold War treaties founded on mutual suspicion and an
    adversarial relationship.
        In sum, the Moscow Treaty is clearly in the best interests of the
    United States and represents an important contribution to U.S. national
    security and strategic stability. I therefore urge the Senate to give
    prompt and favorable consideration to the Treaty, and to advise and
    consent to its ratification.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     June 20, 2002.

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