„The parties can reach an agreement on an assistance program to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of this article, including to expedite implementation.“ At their summit in Moscow from 1 to 3 September, Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton reaffirmed their commitment to push for a further reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, but were unable to announce concrete measures for the ratification of START II by the Russian Duma. A joint statement by the two heads of state and government said: „Russia and the United States will continue to fulfill their obligations under the ABM and START arms reduction agreements and will cooperate with Russia`s rapid ratification of START II.“ The two presidents also reiterated their commitment, made at their Helsinki Summit in March 1997, to begin discussions on START III after the ratification of START II. The ratification process for START II began after the signing of the agreement by US President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin on 3 January 1993. The United States ratified the original START II agreement in January 1996, but never a 1997 protocol that extended the time frame for the implementation of the treaty, nor the succession, delimitation and trust agreements negotiated at the same time. [1] On 4 May 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the ratification resolution for START II, his protocol for the extension and the 1997 ABM agreements. Russia`s ratification laws have conditioned the exchange of START II ratification instruments (necessary for their entry into force) on the approval by the United States of the extension protocol and the ABM agreement; Congress has never voted to ratify the whole package. 6.

[If, within one year of the entry into force of this treaty, the contracting parties enter into agreement on an assistance programme to promote the application of the provisions of this article, the obligations set out in paragraphs 3 and 4 of this article and Article II of this treaty are fulfilled by each party no later than 31 December. , 2000.] Contracting parties may reach agreement on an assistance program to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of this article, including to expedite implementation. On 14 June 2002, Russia announced that it was no longer bound by its obligations under the 1993 Strategic Arms Treaty (START), ending nearly a decade of US-Russian efforts to enter into force under the 1993 Treaty. Moscow`s statement came a day after the United States withdrew from the Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and weeks after the two countries reached a new Nuclear Weapons Agreement (SORT) on May 24. The Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty (SORT), which requires the United States and Russia to reduce their strategic arsenals to 1,700-2,200 head per piece by December 31, 2012, effectively replaced START II`s requirement not to deploy more than 3,000-3,500 warheads by December 2007. Other important provisions of START II, such as the ban on the deployment of several re-entry vehicles (MIRVs) on intercontinental missiles (ICBMs) independently, were not addressed in the SORT agreement. Russian Foreign Minister Kozyrev agreed in his response to Foreign Minister Eagleburger`s December 29, 1992 letter that on the basis of the U.S. letter, „all issues relating to heavy bombers, within the meaning of the START II treaty, have been resolved to our mutual satisfaction.“ This gives formal assurance that Russia has no longer insisted on counting the fixing points to determine the number of nuclear weapons for which a heavy bomber is actually equipped, or on the elimination of „excess“ fasteners that would allow the aircraft to carry more nuclear weapons than those listed.