Russia dismantles old missiles

MOSCOW, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Russian missile authorities in Moscow announced Tuesday they had destroyed nine old Topol mobile missile systems as part of a 1991 U.S. treaty agreement.

In a statement, the Strategic Missile Forces said the dismantlement this month brought the number of reductions for the year to 36, the Novosti news agency reported.

The Topol, also known as the SS-25 Sickle, is a single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile that went into service in 1985 and is about the same size and shape as the U.S. Minuteman ICBM, the report said.

The dismantlement was part of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which is set to expire on Dec. 5, 2009. It was signed by U.S. and Soviet officials on July 31, 1991, five months before the Soviet Union collapsed.

It also encompasses the former Soviet states of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine but all three of those countries have disposed of all former Soviet nuclear warheads, the agency said.