Admiral Mike Mullen To Geneva for START Talks

[SpartanDem]

Source: ABC

With the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START Treaty, between the US and Russia scheduled to expire on December 5, the diplomatic effort between the two countries to reach a new nuclear disarmament treaty by the end of the year continues.

Today came word that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen traveled to Geneva, Switzerland Monday night for an unannounced meeting with his Russian counterpart, General N.E. Makarov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, to discuss the START Treaty follow-on agreement.

A statement from Mullen’s spokesperson, Capt. John Kirby, said the meeting with Makarov was held “to further ongoing negotiations on the START follow-on agreement.”

The meeting was made at the request of both President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev who had met last week in Singapore at the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Singapore. At that time both leaders acknowledged that US-Russian negotiators would almost certainly not make the December 5 deadline for a new nuclear disarmament treaty and set a goal of reaching agreement on a new deal by the end of this year.


Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/11/admiral-mike-mullen-to-geneva-for-start-talks.html