Russian parliament leaders warn against U.S. leverage in START deal
China View – Xinhua
January 17, 2010
Russia should firmly defend its security interests in talks with the United States over a new nuclear arsenal cut deal, Russian parliamentary leaders said Saturday.
“Our interests of national security must be our primary goal in signing the new treaty,” said Sergei Mironov, Federation Council Speaker and leader of the Fair Russia party, in a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev at Zavidovo of Tver region.
The new document to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(START-1) that expired on Dec. 5, 2009, said Mironov, should be signed on an equal basis.
When Moscow engaged in negotiations with Washington over specific issues such as number of nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles, he said, no compromise shall be made at the cost of national interests.
Russia and the U.S. “must undoubtedly have equal rights and duties under the new treaty,” which first and foremost applies to mutual inspections, said Boris Gryzlov, Russian State Duma Speaker, as cited by the Interfax news agency.
He also voiced support on the linkage between the issues of strategic weapons cut and missile defense, while downplaying U.S. edge on the missile defense.
Equal reductions of warheads would be detrimental to Russia and lead to Moscow’s “geographical lose-out,” said Liberal Democratic leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, as Russia is surrounded by multiple U.S. missile bases.
Zhirinovsky insisted Russia must not slash its deployment of multiple independent reentry vehicles, and ensure equal rights on mutual inspections.
The strategic arms reduction shall not pose threat to Russia’s basis security, said Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov.
If Russia cannot retain its current nuclear power, he said, its security will be intimidated and it will not become U.S. equal.
“There can be no parity with the Americans anyway because they have 30-fold superiority over us in terms of conventional armaments. We can’t make a minimum concession,” he said.
Insisting Russia and the United States ratify the new START treaty simultaneously, Medvedev also stressed its significance to Russia.
“This is a foreign policy issue, but it is of extreme importance and will, in the final analysis, determine the face of Russia for years to come,” he said.
Moscow and Washington have exerted intense efforts trying to clinch a deal on the new START treaty.
The talks are expected to resume in the second half of this month, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier.
The START-1, signed in 1991 between the then Soviet Union and the United States, obliged both sides to reduce the number of their nuclear warheads to 6,000 and delivery vehicles to 1,600.
The new treaty’s outline agreed by the two presidents at a July summit in Moscow included slashing nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/17/content_12822678.htm
