The following letter by Bulgarian Ambassador to the USA Elena Poptodorova was printed in the Record of the US Senate for the debate on the ratification of START 2 after it was quoted by Senator George Voinovich, a Republican from Ohio, in his Floor Speech on December 21, 2010, during the START 2 ratification debates. The US Senate voted to ratify the Treaty, which is considered one of the major foreign policy successes of the Obama Administration as part of its reset of relations with Russia, on December 23, 2010.

The letter was provided to Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) by the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington, DC.

Senator Voinovich's Senate Floor speech on the New START Treaty can be watched HERE

Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria,

Washington DC, December 6, 2010.

Dear Senator Voinovich: I am writing to you on an urgent note regarding the pending ratification of the New START.

Firstly, I would like to reiterate the strong support of the Bulgarian government for the treaty. As you may know, already on the margins of the NATO Summit, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov, together with his colleagues from Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Norway, explicitly pointed out that the treaty is in the interest of European and global security. I firmly believe that it is indeed key to the national security interest of each country as well as to the stability of the transatlantic alliance.

Secondly, Bulgaria shares the assessment that the treaty allows the United States to maintain an effective and robust nuclear deterrent and to keep modernizing its nuclear weapons complex. It is crucial that it does not put any constraints on the US missile defense programs and allows for the deployment of effective missile systems.

Furthermore, a failure to swiftly ratify the treaty would mean discontinuation of the verification regime that could result in negative consequences in the nuclear disarmament especially taking into consideration the significant strategic nuclear advantage of Russia. In my view, it will also put at risk the future cooperation with Russia and will impede the negotiations on priorities such as conventional forces and tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. It is of utmost importance that Russia be kept at the negotiating table beyond the scope of the New START, in particular on issues like Iran, Afghanistan and other global security challenges.

I strongly urge you, dear Senator, to consider the arguments above and act in favor of a swift ratification of the New START. The new treaty is yet another step toward guaranteeing our common security and the United States leadership is absolutely essential in this respect.

I trust I will be taken in good faith.

Sincerely,

Elena Poptodorova,

Ambassador.

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