U.S.-Russia arms treaty goes into effect

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- The new START treaty went into effect Saturday as the Russian and U.S. foreign ministers exchanged the instruments of ratification.

The nuclear arms reduction treaty replaces START 1, which expired in December 2009. It limits the two countries to a cap of 1,550 nuclear warheads, reduced from the current 2,200.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the ratification documents Jan. 28 and U.S. President Barack Obama did so Wednesday after ratification by the U.S. Senate and the Russian State Duma.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov exchanged the documents at a security conference in Munich.