The fate of the US-Russian treaty on reducing nuclear arsenals is in the balance after the Republican leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, vowed today to vote against it. The treaty needs to be ratified by two-thirds of the 100-member Senate. The Democrats, though in control of the Senate, will need the support of some Republicans. McConnell, interviewed on CNN, said that although the Senate foreign relations committee had studied the Strategic Arms Reduction treaty, other members of the Senate had not. "I don't think this is the best time to be doing this. Members are uneasy with it," McConnell said. The Senate was due to begin discussing the treaty today. Democrats predicted there will be a vote this week and claimed they had the necessary 67 votes. The White House is anxious to try to secure ratification before Christmas because the new Congress, scheduled to begin in January, will see even more Republicans in the Senate.