Russia Urges Implementation of Arms Reduction Treaty with US

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 16, 2003

Russia Urges Implementation of Arms Reduction Treaty with US

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Russia will concentrate on defining the procedure for implementing the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reduction before producing a new agreement in the field with the United States, a senior Russian official said on Thursday.

Moscow does not consider the treaty, which was ratified by Russia's State Duma, lower house of parliament, on Wednesday, as the final document in this sphere, Russian Deputy Foreign MinisterGeorgy Mamedov told a news briefing.

However, "what is the top priority for us now is not the discussion of a new strategic offensive weapons treaty but an agreement on the way to implement the ratified treaty that would be efficient and would stabilize the situation in the world," he said.

The accord, formally called Moscow Treaty, was signed last May by presidents of the United States and Russia, and asked both nations to cut the number of their deployed nuclear warheads to 1,700 and 2,000 respectively by 2012 -- down from about 6,000 in theUnited States and 5,500 in Russia. The US Senate unanimously approved the treaty in March.

The Duma vote on the treaty was originally scheduled for March 21, but it decided on March 18 to put off the procedure to protestagainst the then imminent US-led attack on Iraq, which Russia firmly opposed.

The two countries will exchange the instruments of ratificationat one of the future meetings between the Russian and US presidents, after which a special commission should define the procedure for implementing this treaty, Mamedov revealed.

The further reduction of strategic offensive weapons after 2009will be discussed within the framework of a special working group,and unofficial discussions on the proportion of warheads to be destroyed and stockpiled are underway, he said.

Russia has received some documents suggesting what to do with US strategic offensive weapons, including warheads and bombers, after 2009, he said.

He also expressed the belief that the Americans will not take the risk and costs involved in the storage of a large number of nuclear warheads. "The Americans also have a similar picture of our plans until the end of 2012," Mamedov said

In the meantime, he said Moscow and Washington are considering a document to legalize the pledge for missile defense cooperation.

The Russian-American group for missile defense met in Geneva inApril. The two sides came close to coordinating such a document, and will try to bring the negotiations to a logical end, Mamedov said.

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