START Follow-On Timeline (Updated through January 2010)
July 31, 1991: START I signed - Presidents George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign the “Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms" (START I), which calls for the United States and the Soviet Union to reduce their strategic nuclear forces over seven years to 1,600 strategic nuclear delivery vehicles and 6,000 “accountable” warheads, of which no more than 4,900 may be on ballistic missiles.
October 1, 1992: Senate approves START I – Passed by a vote of 93-6.
May 23, 1992: START protocol signed - The United States, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine sign the START Protocol at a ceremony in Portugal. Under the protocol, all five countries become parties to START, and the three non-Russian former Soviet republics agree to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as non-nuclear-weapon states “in the shortest possible time.” In addition to the protocol, in letters to President Bush, the heads of the three republics pledge to eliminate all the strategic weapons on their territories within the seven-year START reduction period.
January 3, 1993: START II signed - Presidents Bush and Boris Yeltsin meet in Moscow and sign the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russia Federation on the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Arms (START II). This Treaty calls for the elimination of MIRVed ICBMs and reductions to strategic warhead limits on each side of between 3,000 and 3,500 by the year 2003.
December 5, 1994: START I instruments of ratification - The five parties to the START I Treaty -- the United States, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine -- exchange instruments of ratification for START I at the Budapest Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe summit. The Treaty is to remain in force for 15 years, unless replaced by a subsequent agreement, and, therefore, will expire on December 5, 2009.
January 26, 1996: Senate ratifies START II – Passed by a vote of 87-4.
March 20-21, 1997: Clinton-Yeltsin meeting - Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin meet in Helsinki and agree to immediately begin negotiations on a START III treaty once START II enters into force (subsequently modified to occur once START II is ratified). They agree that START III negotiations will include a limit of 2,000-2,500 deployed strategic nuclear warheads for each side by December 31, 2007, measures relating to the transparency of strategic nuclear warhead inventories and to the destruction of strategic warheads, extension of the current START agreements to unlimited duration, and the deactivation by the end of 2003 of all strategic nuclear delivery vehicles to be eliminated under START II.
April 14, 2000: Duma ratifies START II - The Russian Duma (lower house of parliament) ratifies START II.
December 5, 2001: Meeting START I requirements - The United States and Russia announce they have met their final START I requirements.
May 24, 2002: Treaty of Moscow - Presidents Bush and Putin sign the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) in Moscow, which calls for each country to deploy no more than 1,700-2,200 strategic warheads by December 31, 2012.
June 14, 2002: START II in limbo - Russian President Vladimir Putin declares that Russia is no longer bound by its signature of START II.
November 13-21, 2008: Extending START I - The United States and Russia, along with representatives from Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, meet in the Joint Compliance and Implementation Commission (JCIC). The parties considered whether to extend START I, but they fail to reach any agreements.
February 7, 2009: Biden reset with Russia speech - In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, Vice President Joe Biden states that “[i]t is time to press the reset button” on U.S.-Russian relations and “to renew the verification procedures in the START treaty and then go beyond existing treaties to negotiate deeper cuts in our arsenals.”
March 6, 2009: Clinton-Lavrov meeting - Secretary of State Hilary Clinton presents Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov with a symbolic reset button, stating “I would like to present you with a little gift that represents what President Obama, Vice President Biden and I have been saying. We want to reset our relationship, and so we will do it together.”
April 1, 2009: Obama-Medvedev meeting - Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev meet in London and issue a Joint Statement in which they agree “to pursue new and verifiable reductions in our strategic offensive arsenals in a step-by-step process, beginning by replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new, legally-binding treaty. We are instructing our negotiators to start talks immediately on this new treaty and to report on results achieved in working out the new agreement by July.”
April 5, 2009: Obama Prague speech - President Obama delivers a major speech on nuclear weapons in Prague, in which he states: “To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year….that is legally binding and sufficiently bold. And this will set the stage for further cuts, and we will seek to include all nuclear weapons states in this endeavor.”
April 6, 2009: Gottemoeller sworn in - Rose Gottemoeller is sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation. One of her main responsibilities will be to lead the U.S. team responsible for negotiating a START follow-on agreement with Russia.
April 7, 2009: Gottemoeller-Kislyak discussion - Assistant Secretary of State Gottemoeller and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak meet at a public event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Both speakers express the importance of having a START follow-on agreement in place before the end of the year.
April 24, 2009: Gottemoeller-Antonov preparatory talks - Assistant Secretary of State Gottemoeller and Director of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Security and Disarmament Anatoly Antonov meet at the U.S. Embassy in Rome for their first preparatory talks on negotiating a START follow-on agreement.
May 7, 2009: Clinton-Lavrov meeting - Secretary of State Clinton and Foreign Minister Lavrov meet in Washington D.C. In a joint appearance with Lavrov after the meeting, Clinton declares that “[i]t is I think old thinking to say that we have a disagreement in one area, therefore we should not work on something else that is of overwhelming importance. That's just not the way we think.”
May 19-21, 2009: Formal negotiations begin -The U.S. and Russian delegations meet in Moscow to formally begin negotiations on a START follow-on agreement.
June 1-3, 2009: Second round of formal negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland
June 22-24, 2009: Third round of formal negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland
July 6-8, 2009: Obama–Medvedev Summit Meeting - President Obama makes his first visit as President to Russia. The two leaders release a Joint Understanding in which they commit to reduce their strategic warheads to a range of 1500-1675, and their strategic delivery vehicles to a range of 500-1100.
July 22-24, 2009: Fourth round of formal negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland
August 31-September 2, 2009: Fifth round of formal negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland
September 21-October 3, 2009:: Sixth round of formal negotiations to be held in Geneva, Switzerland
September 23, 2009: Presidents Obama and Medvedev meet in New York City - The two presidents meet on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting to hear a report on the progress of the START follow-on talks.
October 13, 2009: Clinton-Lavrov meeting - The two foreign policy chiefs reiterate their desire to finish negotiations by December 5.
October 19-30, 2009: Seventh round of formal negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland
October 24, 2009: Presidents Obama and Medvedev hold a telephone conversation - The two presidents reaffirm their desire to finish negotiations by December 5.
October 28-29, 2009: National Security Adviser James Jones visits Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
November 9, 2009 - December 18, 2009: Eighth round of formal negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland
November 24, 2009: Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, travels to Geneva to meet with his Russian counterpart, General N.E. Makarov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - The two military leaders meet to discuss the START follow-on talks.
December 4, 2009: Obama-Medvedev Joint Statement - The two leaders release a Joint Statement in which they commit "to continue to work together in the spirit of the START Treaty following its expiration, as well as our firm intention to ensure that a new treaty on strategic arms enter into force at the earliest possible date."
December 5, 2009: START I expired
Late January 2010: Ninth (and final?) round of formal negotiations begin in Geneva, Switzerland
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