Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the expected signing of a milestone arms cuts pact with the United States on Thursday would define disarmament processes in the world for the years to come.
Medvedev is currently in the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, where he and the U.S. President Barack Obama are set to sign a new treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons to replace the START 1 treaty that expired in December 2009.
"Such events are not frequent and the one that I hope would take place [on Thursday] will define disarmament and cooperation processes, as well as processes of non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons in the whole world for the years to come," Medvedev said at a meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus.
"This will be a remarkable event and I would like to thank you for the support of our initiative," he told the Czech president.
The strategic arms pact stipulates that the number of nuclear warheads is to be reduced to 1,550 on each side, while the number of delivery vehicles must not exceed 800 on each side.
Under the deal, which will have a validity term of ten years unless it is superseded by another strategic arms reduction agreement, strategic offensive weapons are to be based solely on the national territories of Russia and the United States.
PRAGUE, April 8 (RIA Novosti)
