Russia, US to soon finalize new nuclear arms deal
Moscow | Friday, Mar 19 2010 IST
 

Russia and US will soon finalize a new strategic arms reduction deal. "We are pleased with the way the negotiators have been following their Presidents' instructions," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday. "There is every reason to say that we have entered the home stretch and expect the negotiators to announce the completion of their work very soon," Lavrov said.

We are sure that negotiators will tell us soon about the completion of the work. Then well agree what to submit to the Presidents ''the date and the place of signing the document,'' he said. On her part Mrs Clinton said, "We are making substantial progress on the new START treaty, that's the word from our negotiators in Geneva." "And the results of the latest negotiation rounds lead us to believe we'll be reaching a final agreement soon," she said.

Answering a question about a possible date and place of signing the new treaty, she said there is no need to hurry up. ''Dont count your chickens before they are hatched,'' Mrs Clinton said. ''Negotiators should tell us they end their work and then both parties will decide when and where they will sign the treaty,'' she said. Russia and US are trying to replace the 1991 START 1 treaty that expired in December. Mrs Clinton is attending two days of talks in Moscow, including a key meeting on the Middle East on Friday. Iran is also a major issue, with the US and Russia publicly disagreeing on the planned opening of an Iranian nuclear power station. Yesterday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Iran's first nuclear power plant, which Russia is building at Bushehr, could come on line as early as this summer. At the Moscow news conference, Mrs Clinton said Iran was entitled to nuclear energy but that it had failed to give the world reassurances on the nuclear weapons issue. "In the absence of those reassurances, we think it would be premature to go forward with any project at this time," she said.

Mr Lavrov insisted the Bushehr plant played a special role in "ensuring that Iran is complying with its non-proliferation obligations." Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons, saying its programme is for purely peaceful, energy purposes.

-- (UNI) -- 19DF1.xml

 

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