From the Cable: There’s a growing realization both inside the administration and on Capitol Hill that Senate ratification of the START follow-on treaty with Russia will probably not happen this year.

One problem, of course, is that there is no agreement as yet to ratify. President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reportedly talked over the phone Wednesday and agreed to speed up the final phase of the negotiations, which have lagged since the old START treaty expired last December. The outstanding issues have included how to deal with Russian concerns over U.S. missile defense plans and Russian demands for access to American missile defense telemetry.

But even if the treaty were signed soon (which nobody is predicting), the huge demand for time it would take for the Senate to scrutinize and then ratify the agreement makes a ratification on the U.S. side unlikely in 2010, multiple Hill sources said. The process would take at least six months and everybody knows the Senate shuts down in August of any election year. (graphic: RIA Novosti)