An agreement signed in 1979 by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev after the second round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT II), held from 1972-79. It restricted the number of each side's strategic weapons, and its goal was to replace the Interim Agreement reached in SALT I. The U.S. Senate never ratified the treaty, partly in protest to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but both countries observed its major limitations until 1986.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
