Russia will pull out of the new START Treaty if it finds that the US missile defense plans encroach upon its strategic interests. Speaking on national television on Saturday, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said what matters is not the location of the American missile defense shield but the threat coming from it. Under the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty the two presidents signed in Prague on Thursday, the two countries’ nuclear warheads will be cut by one third, and both sides pledge not to deploy strategic armaments beyond their territories. Preliminary work to ratify the agreement is already underway.