Lavrov speaks in Geneva for atomic arms deal
Russia has called for a successor deal with the United States to their Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), at a conference in Geneva.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the nuclear weapons treaty was a priority in “resetting” relations as Washington has urged.
Lavrov was addressing a United Nations disarmament conference in the Swiss city on Saturday, a day after he held bilateral talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“We are prepared, as was suggested by our American partners, to “reset” our relations… Conclusion of a new legally-binding Russian-American treaty on strategic offensive weapons could become a priority step in that direction,” said Lavrov.
He quoted President Dmitri Medvedev as saying that the agreement should be “forward-looking” and should limit not only nuclear warheads but also strategic delivery systems.
On Friday Clinton said that new strategic arms treaty was a priority. The US wanted to reach agreement by the end of this year, when the START I treaty expires, she said. Lavrov has called the 1991 pact “obsolete”.
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