DEEP CUTS COMMISSION PUSHES FOR NEW U.S., RUSSIAN ARMS CONTROL TALKS

Despite tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, a new report from a 21-member expert panel is urging the two countries to move forward on another round of arms control talks. The report, “Preparing for Deep Nuclear Cuts: Options for Enhancing Euro-Atlantic and International Security,” calls on the U.S. and Russian to “initiate talks on a New START follow-on agreement mandating significant and stabilizing nuclear cuts” and suggests the deployed strategic nuclear stockpiles of the country should be capped at 1,000 warheads and 500 delivery vehicles. It also suggests the U.S. should speed up implementation of reductions under the current New START Treaty, which requires the U.S. and Russia to have less than 1,550 strategic deployed warheads by 2018. "The current tensions between Russia and the West regarding Ukraine makes adopting such recommendations more difficult, but the value of such measures in putting tighter constraints on nuclear arms becomes all the more apparent in times of tension," said Steve Pifer, a commissioner on the expert panel—known as the Deep Cuts Commission—and the director of the Brookings Institution’s Project on Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative.