before Obama convenes a summit of 47 nations on nuclear security issues . `` It significantly reduces missiles and launchers , '' Obama said of the new treaty , which lasts for 10 years . `` It puts in place a strong and effective verification regime . And it maintains the flexibility that we need to protect and advance our national security , and to guarantee our unwavering commitment to the security of our allies . '' Obama has made nuclear non-proliferation a major priority of his presidency , prompting criticism from conservatives who fear the president will weaken the U.S. nuclear deterrent against possible attack . `` We believe that preventing nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation should begin by directly confronting the two leading proliferators and supporters of terrorism , Iran and North Korea , '' according to a statement issued Tuesday by Arizona 's two Republican U.S. senators , John McCain and Jon Kyl . `` The Obama Administration 's policies , thus far , have failed to do that and this failure has sent exactly the wrong message to other would be proliferators and supporters of terrorism . '' According to information released by the White House
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- President Barack Obama headed to the Czech Republic on Wednesday night to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and sign an arms control agreement that reduces the nuclear stockpiles of both nations . The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty -LRB- START -RRB- to be signed Thursday by the two leaders builds on a previous agreement that expired in December . Obama has called the treaty the `` the most comprehensive arms control agreement in nearly two decades '' and said it would cut the nuclear weapons of the United States and Russia by about a third . After meeting with Medvedev and attending the signing ceremony in Prague , the Czech Republic capital , Obama will have dinner with heads of government from 11 countries -- Bulgaria , Croatia , Czech Republic , Estonia , Hungary , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , Romania , Slovakia and Slovenia . The highlight of the two-day trip is the new treaty with Russia , which is another step in nuclear arms relations between the former Cold War adversaries . Its signing comes two days after the Obama administration announced a new U.S. nuclear weapons policy and four days