Russia has proposed that Russian-US working parties on missile defense and strategic offensive arms reduction hold their first meetings in Moscow in late October or early November, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement early on Wednesday.
”We would like to propose that the working parties on missile defense and strategic offensive arms reduction convene in late October or early November of this year in Moscow,” the statement quoted Russian deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko as saying.
The working parties were set up during the visit of Russian foreign and defence ministers Igor Ivanov and Sergei Ivanov to Washington last week, Yakovenko added.
Yakovenko also proposed that Moscow and Washington start talks on military activities in space, although he failed to specify a date.
In June, Washington announced it would no longer abide by the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty and said it was moving ahead with plans to deploy a missile defence system.
Moscow initially voiced strong opposition to Washington’s plans but later considerably softened its stance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart George Bush signed on May 24 a landmark disarmament deal committing Russia and the United States to slashing their nuclear arsenals by 2012 to no more than 2 200 deployed warheads, down from 6 000 each.
Russia last June tore up the 1993 START II arms reduction treaty, which had largely been superseded by the Putin-Bush deal and which Moscow considered irrelevant following Washington’s decision to forge ahead with the construction of its missile shield. – Sapa-AFP