On February 5, 2011, the US and Russia formally inaugurated the New START [PDF], which is an agreement intended to reduce the nuclear arms stockpile in both countries. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov exchanged documents in Munich that finalized two years of negotiations and marked the entering into force of the treaty. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed a bill ratifying the treaty in January 2011 and US President Barack Obama signed ratification documents for the treaty shortly before the treaty entered into force in February 2011.

Barack Obama and Dmitri Medvedev at the New START signing in April 2010

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