国际英语新闻：Russian government sets greenlight for START ratification

MOSCOW, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The Russian government has studied the new strategic arms reduction treaty (START) and proposed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to submit the document to parliament for ratification, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday.

Earlier the agency said the government has approved the treaty signed by Moscow and Washington in April, citing the government website.

Under the new treaty, the warheads held by the two nuclear superpowers will be reduced to 1,500, about 30 percent lower than the previous treaty's limitation. Strategic offensive weapons will be based solely on the national territories of Russia and the United States.

Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama have agreed earlier that the ratification process should be underway simultaneously.

The widely hailed new pact is conducive to easing frustrated U. S.-Russian ties and pushing forward nuclear disarmament and the non-proliferation process on a global scale.

Earlier on Thursday, head of Russian Federation Council's International Committee Mikhail Margelov voiced confidence that the U.S. Congress was able to finish the ratification before its August recess, despite the fact that such ratifying process was not easy.