Russia to take time to thoroughly analyze Obama’s arms cuts proposal – diplomat

File Photo of Stealth Bomber in Flight

(Interfax – MOSCOW. June 20, 2013) Russia will thoroughly examine U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposals on more radical cuts of nuclear weapons, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

“We will coordinate our reasons with our objectives in ensuring our national security and strengthening peace. Analysis will be interdepartmental and will take some time,” Ryabkov said in an interview published in Kommersant on Thursday.

Asked what factors Moscow will take into account in making its decision, Ryabkov pointed out that “the notion of strategic stability today significantly differs from concepts that existed in the past.”

“Apart from the role of nuclear weapons and issues related to the ceilings in the nuclear arms area,” the Russian leadership will also take into account the missile defense situation, the creation of non-nuclear precision weapons, the possibility of deploying weapons in space, to which Moscow categorically objects, and refusal of a number of countries to take part in key arms control agreements, he said.

“Without taking all these circumstances into account, it is wrong to talk only about the role of nuclear weapons as a factor affecting strategic stability,” he said.

Some media outlets reported that the U.S. expects a reply from Moscow before a Russian-U.S. summit in Moscow in September.

Obama proposed on Wednesday that the U.S. and Russia further reduce their strategic nuclear weapons.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov suggested on Thursday that other countries possessing nuclear weapons should be engaged in nuclear arms reductions after the implementation of the New START treaty.

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