Despite stormy ties between the United States and Russia, people of the two world powers favour sharply reducing their nuclear arsenals, according to a poll released Friday.
Large majorities of Americans and Russians want nuclear weapons taken off high alert levels as well as a rapid reduction of nuclear weapons and ban in the production of weapons-grade nuclear material, the survey held in the two countries showed.
It was conducted by US groups WorldPublicOpinion.org and the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland (CISSM). The goal to eliminate all nuclear weapons under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was endorsed by 73 percent of Americans and 63 percent of Russians, according to the September poll covering 1,247 Americans and 1,601 Russians nation-wide.
Seventy-nine percent of Americans and 66 percent of Russians want their governments to do more to pursue this objective. "In contrast to the growing tension between their governments, publics in the US and Russia show enthusiasm for dramatic co-operative steps to reduce the nuclear threat," said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org.
John Steinbruner, CISSM director, said, "current US security policies do not reflect underlying public opinion." US-Russia ties have soured on various issues, including the Iranian nuclear program and Washington's plan to build missile defence shield in Europe.
The survey also showed 88 percent of Americans and 65 percent of Russians endorsing the US-Russian Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) to reduce the number of active nuclear weapons in each arsenal to about 2,000 weapons by the end of 2012. In fact, most Americans (71 percent) and Russians (55 percent) favour reaching this level even sooner.
Ninety-two percent of Americans and 65 percent of Russians believe that an international body, such as the United Nations, would need to monitor and verify compliance with such deep reductions.