The treaty -- signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama in April -- restricts each nation to a maximum of 1,550 deployed warheads, a cut of about 30 percent from a limit set in 2002.

Foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Hungary, Denmark and Bulgaria unexpectedly joined a White House briefing at NATO's Lisbon summit to support President Barack Obama's calls for Senators to ratify the treaty.

"It's real important for us to stress that for us, it's really European security that is at stake," said Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen.

"If the START treaty is not ratified, it will be a real setback for European security. Therefore, of course, we urge and hope that the US Congress will be able to ratify the START treaty as soon as possible. "

A top Obama foreign policy initiative, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty replaces a previous accord that lapsed in December 2009 and also requires ratification by Russia's lower house, the Duma.

Republicans say they need to be sure the US arsenal will be modernised and that the treaty will not hamper missile defence efforts, but some acknowledge privately that they did not want to hand Obama a diplomatic victory before recent elections.

The task of ratifying the accord will be even tougher in January when a new Congress, elected in November 2 polls in which Republicans routed Democrats, takes office.

In a further sign of trouble, 10 Republican senators-elect called in a letter for the ratification to be delayed until next year.

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