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How did the United States and the Soviet Union handle cruise missile deployments under START I?
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Strategic Arms Reduction Talks
U.S. Pres. Barack Obama talking with Russian Pres. Dmitry Medvedev, just before the two leaders issued a joint statement about their continued cooperation on the New START Treaty, December 4, 2009.
During the negotiations for the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START I), the United States and the Soviet Union faced significant challenges in establishing limits on nuclear-armed cruise missiles due to the inherent difficulty of implementing effective verification measures for these weapons.1
To resolve this issue, the two sides agreed to handle the matter through separate political declarations. Under this arrangement, both nations committed to announcing their planned cruise missile deployments on an annual basis, with a mutual agreement that these deployments would not exceed a limit of 880 missiles.1