MOSCOW (Agencies)
The United States and Russia on Tuesday began the first round of talks aimed at replacing a landmark Cold War-era nuclear disarmament treaty that expires in December.
The talks on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which is due to expire in December, are a central part of U.S. President Barack Obama's commitment to "reset" strained ties with Russia and their result could have far-reaching implications for global security.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed the "new momentum for disarmament" and welcomed recent announcements by Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev that they intended to replace START but warned that nuclear disarmament could only be achieved if all countries abided by their commitments to counter the spread of nuclear weapons.
" This can only be realized if all states, nuclear and non-nuclear alike, are prepared to abide by their disarmament and non-proliferation commitments and nurture an international climate conducive to disarmament " Ban Ki-moon. UN Secretary General “This can only be realized if all states, nuclear and non-nuclear alike, are prepared to abide by their disarmament and non-proliferation commitments and nurture an international climate conducive to disarmament," Ban told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
The talks hark back to Cold War days where U.S. and Soviet officials met for tense negotiations on reducing their vast atomic arsenals and lowering the chances of nuclear Armageddon.
A successful result would boost Obama's vision of a world free of atomic weapons and help set the stage for a fence-mending summit in July when Obama travels to Moscow to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
For Russia, the talks are also a matter of prestige as they imply strategic "parity" with the United States, a matter diplomats say is of huge importance to Moscow as it seeks to play a larger role on the world stage.
A source in the Russian foreign ministry told AFP that the talks began Tuesday as planned, without giving further details. Interfax news agency said the two sides had decided to refrain from public comment on the talks.
The two-day negotiating session marks the formal start of the process though the two sides have a series of preliminary meetings to help break the ice.
Ahead of the talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he hoped they would be "fruitful" but also cautioned that they would be linked to controversial U.S. missile defense plans in Eastern Europe.
"We believe that the START treaty cannot be discussed in a vacuum," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax late Monday. |
" It must reflect the issue of global security, which certainly includes Russia's, and this implies that we must sort out the situation on missile defence " Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister "It must reflect the issue of global security, which certainly includes Russia's, and this implies that we must sort out the situation on missile defence," Lavrov added.
Moscow has reacted angrily to U.S. plans to place missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Washington however says the plans do not threaten Russia and has tried to keep them off the negotiating table at the START talks.
The Russian daily newspaper Vremya Novostei wrote Tuesday that it would be "practically impossible" to reach a deal on START unless Obama reconsidered the missile shield, that was strongly backed by former U.S. president George W. Bush. |
