Ex-minister Ivanov proposes accelerated fulfillment of new START, reduction talks with U.S.
MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Former Russian Foreign Minister, ex-Russian Security Council Secretary and President of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) Igor Ivanov calls for accelerated implementation of the new START treaty.
"START III has become a truly important achievement in this field (nuclear threat reduction) but it is possible to do more, such as accelerate the fulfillment of treaty provisions (is it necessary to wait until 2018 for reaching the levels set by the treaty?) and start new bilateral negotiations on further reduction of nuclear arsenals," Ivanov said in an interview with Interfax.
Ivanov said he presented the ideas in detail in a joint article with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright published by the New York Times on December 31, 2012.
He quoted a number of key extracts from the article to Interfax.
"Russia and the United States control 90 to 95 percent of the world's nuclear weapons. We can readily continue negotiations of further reductions and still safely ensure our security. If we do, we will be more persuasive when asking other nuclear-weapons states to join in the nuclear-arms reduction process and will enhance the credibility of our diplomacy in mobilizing international pressure on Iran to refrain from trying to build a nuclear weapon," the article runs.
"The long-running dispute over missile defense continues to cast a shadow over possible progress on arms control, even though both NATO and Russia say they want to cooperate in that sphere. Now is the time to be creative. With some imagination on both sides, missile defense could prove a game-changer, making NATO and Russia allies in protecting Europe," it says.
