Brussels, 23/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 22 December, the U.S. Senate approved the new version of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed by Russia and the US last April. A group of 13 US Senators from the Republican Party, which was hostile to the treaty, joined Democrat Senators to sign this decision. This enabled the necessary two-thirds majority to be reached for ratification (71 senators voted in favour, with 26 against). This final approval of the treaty, which has been opposed by the Republicans for a long time, comes after weeks of negotiations between the White House and the opposition and after having reached an agreement last week on the tax reforms proposed by the Obama administration. Approval of the treaty was difficult to imagine just a few weeks ago and was obtained on Tuesday when the 67 senators voted in favour (including the 11 Republican votes) of holding a final vote on the treaty. This is the first time this has ever occurred in the history of the US Congress, according to North American news channels. The US media also pointed out that until now, the Republicans have always refused to support treaties negotiated by presidents from the opposing group. In Russia, the deputy president of the foreign affairs committee at the Duma announced on Tuesday that if there was a vote in favour, the Lower House at the Russian parliament would ratify the treaty before the end of the year. (A.By. /transl. fl)