Washington regrets Moscow's absence at nuclear summit - Under Secretary of State
NEW YORK. Feb 5 (Interfax) - The United States regrets that Russia has refused to attend a preparatory meeting of the Nuclear Security Summit and the summit proper, which is due to be held in Washington on March 31 - April 1, 2016, U.S. Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said in an interview with Interfax.
In her view, the summit, which gathers world leaders every two years, is a unique mechanism that can help reach progress such an important sphere as nuclear security.
She recalled that in 1996 Russia hosted a nuclear security summit attended by the G7 and Russian leaders.
At the time, the summit was attended by President Boris Yeltsin, and its results were impressive, she said. Hopefully, Russia still sees the safety of nuclear materials and the fight against nuclear terrorism as a topic worthy of the attention of world leaders, she said. She also expressed hope that the results of this year's summit in Washington will be no less impressive.
The U.S. looks forward to cooperating with its partners on various platforms to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism, she said. This is in the interests of all sides, so the U.S. will be searching for various opportunities, including new ones, to cooperate with Russia in this important area, Gottemoeller said.
Earlier Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Russia will not attend the next Nuclear Security Summit in Washington because these meetings "have played their role" and "by now the political agenda of these summits has been exhausted."