The AP reports,

A top Russian military official on Wednesday enthusiastically welcomed the U.S. government’s willingness to codify proposed nuclear arms cuts and said the deal could be reached by the time President Bush visits Russia in May.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. government was willing to sign an agreement on the cuts. ‘We do expect it will be legally binding,’ he said.

[…]Bush has pledged to reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenals by about two-thirds to 1,700 to 2,200 warheads from the current 6,000 the United States and Russia are each permitted under the START I treaty. Putin has said Russia could go as low as 1,500 warheads.

No surprise here. Handshakes don’t make for good binding agreements — though treaties don’t always work much better.

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