BALI, INDONESIA – The United States and Russia strengthened an agreement that provides time-sensitive communications required by arms control treaties and security agreements between the two nations.
On Monday, the U.S. State Department announced the signing of an amendment to the original agreement, which was signed in 1987.
On October 7, 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov signed the Agreement to Amend the Agreement on the Establishment of Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers (NRRCs). The Agreement was signed on the margins of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bali, Indonesia.
The original agreement, between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was signed on September 15, 1987, and established Centers in Washington, DC and in Moscow to provide the time-sensitive communications required by arms control treaties and security agreements. With over 26 years’ experience, the Centers continue to support a robust array of conventional and strategic arms control treaties and agreements and confidence-building measures.
The new agreement further strengthens the connection between the two Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers. Today’s NRRC-to-NRRC relationship and communications link continue to provide vital transparency in strategic and conventional forces, facilitate verification of arms control treaties and agreements and support strategic stability. For instance, the two Centers have exchanged over five thousand notifications under the New START Treaty since its entry into force in 2011.
