Future Russia-U.S. strategic equation should include nuclear and non-nuclear weapons - Russian deputy FM
MOSCOW. Nov 30 (Interfax) - Any future Russia-U.S. strategic stability equation should include nuclear and non-nuclear weapons, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
"At the strategic dialogue meetings with the U.S., Russia has presented numerous proposals on the draft framework on the eventual on the future arms control arrangements. It is broad and ambitious, but still realistic and balanced. The underlying idea is to jointly develop a new, what I would call, strategic equation taking into account all factors affecting strategic stability, including emerging kinds of weapons prospective technologies, as well as new political realities," Ryabkov said at the Fort Ross Dialogue conference.
"We want this 'equation' to cover not only to cover traditional strategic arms, such as [intercontinental ballistic missiles] ICBMs, [submarine-launched ballistic missile] SLBMs, and heavy bombers with their respective ordnance, but also all nuclear and non-nuclear weapons that are capable of accomplishing strategic tasks," he said.
Special attention should be paid to the means that can be used to deliver a first strike with the aim of weakening the other side's deterrence potential, Ryabkov said.
"Thus we have proposed identifying weapons that pose a threat to the national territory of each side taking into consideration quantities and qualitative aspects of the balance of forced between Russia and its allies on one hand and the United States and its allies on the other regarding both nuclear and conventional weapons, as well as the specifics of their deployment," he said.
Russia stands ready to determine quantitative limits for deployed nuclear warheads that are able to reach the national territories of both countries and to set quantitative and geographical limits for deploying missile defense systems, Ryabkov said.