The START Treaty was signed between the former USSR and the United States on July 31, 1991. In accordance with the Lisbon Protocol of May 23, 1992, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan became successors of the former USSR regarding the Treaty commitments.
     On February 4, 1993 the START Treaty and the Lisbon Protocol were ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus.
    On December 5, 1994 the Treaty entered into force.
    Under START Treaty provisions, the Parties are to reduce their deployed Strategic Offensive Arms to the levels of 1600 carriers and 6000 assigned nuclear charges within seven years after entry into force. In accordance with the commitments under the Lisbon Protocol, this implied for the Republic of Belarus the withdrawal of 81 RS-12M intercontinental ballistic missiles (IBM) to the territory of the Russian Federation before December 5, 2001.
    The Republic of Belarus fulfilled its commitments ahead of schedule. On November 27, 1996, the last missile RS-12M left the territory of the Republic of Belarus and in the middle of the year 1997 all former intercontinental ballistic missile bases together with their infrastructure were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Republic. In connection with that, President of the Republic of Belarus A.G. Lukashenko came out with the initiative on creating an area free of nuclear armaments in Central and Eastern Europe.
    Presently, the implementation of the START Treaty provisions by the Republic of Belarus is limited to compliance with the established reductions and limitations, to the support of inspection and notification activities, as well as to participation in the consultative body activities - the Joint Compliance and Inspection Commission (JCIC) in Geneva.
    The Republic of Belarus hosted altogether 4 US START Treaty inspections.
    The Belarus-USA Continuous Communication Link is used for information and notifications exchange. The exchange of information is carried out through specified formats. The total number of them is 153.
    Issues of implementation by the Parties of the undertaken commitments and measures to improve the viability and effectiveness of the START Treaty are discussed within the Joint Compliance and Inspection Commission framework with the participation of the Belarusian delegation. The total number of JCIC sessions held to date is 27.
    In general, the Treaty has reached its objectives, namely:
    the risk of nuclear warfare has decreased;
    the international strategic stability has been strengthened.
    Besides, as a follow-up of the START Treaty, the Treaty on Reduction of Strategic Offensive Potentials was signed between Russia and the United States on May 24, 2002. According to this Treaty, the number of each Party's strategic nuclear charges will not exceed 1700-2200 by December 31, 2012. The Strategic Offensive Potentials Treaty replaced the bilateral US-Russia START II Treaty of January 3, 1993 that did not enter into force since the United States withdrew from the ABM Treaty of 1972.