Russians make history as START draws to end Published Dec. 9, 2009 By Senior Airman Daryl Knee 90th Missile Wing Public Affairs F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, essentially an agreement between America and the independent states of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Urkraine detailing a reduction of the world's total nuclear arsenal, officially ends Dec. 4. As such, after the Sept. 18 accountability tour, Russian inspectors of various specialties have conducted their last re-entry vehicle on-site inspection of Warren under the START. To put it simply, said Warren Treaty Compliance Chief Rex Ellis, during the Cold War, both the United States and then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had amassed large amounts of nuclear weapons. When the treaty was ratified July 31, 1991, it specified certain windows of time to reduce the capacity of delivery vehicles and owned warheads. The treaty also gave permission for both America and Russia to visit each others' nations for compliance inspections. Image a specialized Russian team of about 10 members declares they want to conduct a treaty compliance inspection in the west side of America, Mr. Ellis said. After the declaration, all Defense Department installations involved with the nuclear enterprise in that region are susceptible to the short-notice inspection. After arriving in the country, the team declares which installation to visit, he continued. In Warren's case, the team can ask to see inside both empty and containing missile silos of the 90th Missile Wing, even if the request if for a Peacekeeper missile site, which were deactivated in 2005. To the Russians, seeing no missile in the site is as important as confirming one is present -- it shows that America has indeed been lowering their nuclear capacity. Talks of extending the treaty or creating an altogether new treaty are currently taking place between President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Written into the START is an allowance to extend the treaty for up to five years. But, Mr. Ellis said, regardless of what will happen in the nuclear armament future, the Russians have performed the very last re-entry vehicle on-site inspection for Warren with the original START.