Russian Diplomat Criticizes U.S. Arms Control

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Russian Diplomat Criticizes U.S. Arms Control

By David Nowak - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Dec 19, 2008 10:14:13 EST

MOSCOW — A senior Russian diplomat harshly criticized the U.S. stance in arms control talks Friday, saying it could further erode mutual trust and undermine global stability.

The United States and Russia have begun talks on a successor deal to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which expires in December 2009, but a cold spell in Russia-U.S. relations has stymied talks.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russian and U.S. negotiators have failed to agree on the basic approach as to which weapons should be counted under the new deal.

Russia wants to count missiles, bombers and submarines along with nuclear warheads fitted to them, as was done in the START I treaty, while the United States agrees only to count nuclear warheads, Ryabkov said.

“The implementation of the approach proposed by the American side can strip our bilateral relations of a key element — predictability in arms control — and badly destabilize the strategic situation,” Ryabkov said in a statement.

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_Russia_121908/%2e