Medvedev urges nuclear treaty ratification

MOSCOW, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says the country's Parliament should quickly ratify the new nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States.

The State Duma, the Parliament's lower house, voted in favor of ratification Friday, RIA Novosti reported.

"The Americans have done what they have promised to do. They have ratified the treaty with several amendments," Medvedev said. "Now it is the turn of our Parliament. You have all possibility to do the same. I hope that decision will be made."

Medvedev and U.S. President Obama signed the treaty that will replace START 1, which expired in December 2009, in Prague last April.

The document would cut the Russian and United States arsenals to a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads for each nation from the current allowable 2,200.

The U.S. Senate ratified the new treaty Dec. 22.

The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, could hold its ratification vote in its first session on Jan. 26.