# Putin and Bush sign the Moscow Treaty on strategic offensive reductions

Date: 2002

## The fact

On 24 May 2002 President Putin and President [George W. Bush](/people/george-w-bush) signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) in Moscow, committing both sides to reduce operationally deployed strategic warheads.

## Context

SORT was a short treaty compared with START. Senates and the Duma still had to consent. [Putin](/people/vladimir-putin) signed; Bush signed; the defence ministries counted. He did not dismantle US warheads.

New START in 2010 is a different treaty signed by Medvedev. ABM withdrawal by the United States is a neighbouring US instrument.

The president of the Russian Federation is commander-in-chief and can issue decrees, sign statutes the Federal Assembly has passed, and represent the state abroad. He does not write UN General Assembly resolutions, ICC warrants, or European Council conclusions.

## Evidence and sources

President of Russia carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is humanitarian and security: a completed strategic-reduction treaty lowers deployed-warhead ceilings. It is not a finding that later New START collapse was this 2002 text.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a 24 May 2002 Moscow signature of SORT by Putin and Bush.

Not established: a unique later global-casualty coefficient, or that every later warhead movement was this treaty.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Bush signed for the United States. Legislatures still had to consent.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Putin and Bush sign the Moscow Treaty on strategic offensive reductions, not a later speech about Putin and Bush sign the Moscow Treaty on strategic offensive reductions.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Putin and Bush sign the Moscow Treaty on strategic offensive reductions on 2002-05-24 is not a licence to treat every later President of Russia communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor decree exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Putin and Bush sign the Moscow Treaty on strategic offensive reductions into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He signed for Russia. Bush signed for the United States. Legislatures still had to consent. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Vladimir Putin: https://factrail.ai/people/vladimir-putin

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-treaty-idUSL246184220020524
- https://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/43184

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ru-moscow-treaty-sort-2002