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Munich • A new U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control treaty went into effect Saturday, securing a key foreign policy goal of President Barack Obama and raising hopes among officials on both sides that it will provide the impetus for Moscow and Washington to negotiate further reductions.

"The treaty marks significant progress toward President Obama's vision of a world without nuclear weapons," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said after exchanging ratification papers with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich.

"Partnership with Russia is vital to our continued progress and to all that we hope to accomplish," she said.

The New START treaty — the first major revamping of nuclear disarmament deals since the late Cold War era — was approved by the U.S. Senate in December after a bruising fight during which Obama pressed strongly for its passage. Russia ratified the deal last month.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov suggested that the two countries could build upon the new treaty in other areas, saying that "coordinated efforts" were needed in missile defense, and that Moscow also was willing to talk about tactical nuclear weapon reductions.

"We are ready to discuss this very complex topic in the framework of a comprehensive approach to strategic stability," he said.

He also stressed that any "hypothetical" negotiations on tactical nuclear weapons "must take into consideration not only Russia's or the U.S. nuclear arsenal but weapons systems of all nuclear and threshold" states. —

New START treaty

Building on Reagan's original • The New START treaty builds on the original START, or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, initially proposed by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan, which went into effect in 1994.

Lower limits • New START, negotiated last year, limits each side to 1,550 strategic warheads, down from 2,200. It limits the number of deployed strategic launchers and heavy bombers to 700.

New inspections • The pact also re-establishes a monitoring system that ended in December 2009 with the expiration of an earlier arms deal. Russia and the U.S. have the right to conduct onsite inspections beginning 60 days from the agreement going into effect Saturday.