Reuters, by Stephanie Nebehay and Jonathan Lynn. RIA Novosti. Comments by  NPSGlobal, 7 Mar 2009. 

Russia called on Saturday for a successor deal with the United States to their Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), saying this was a priority in 'resetting' their relations, as Washington has urged.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, addressing a disarmament conference after holding bilateral talks in Geneva on Friday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said: "We are prepared, as was suggested by our American partners, to "reset" our relations ... Conclusion of a new legally- binding Russian-American treaty on strategic offensive weapons could become a priority step in that direction."

Unites States - Russian's relations fell down to their worst moment after the Cold War. In order to symbolize the intention of improving bilateral relations, Clinton gave Lavrov a small box with a red button which said "Reset".  After the ceremony both chiefs of diplomacy joked as the red button should have said "perezagruzka" (reset in Russian language) and it said "peregruzka" that means overload.

This style remarkably contrasts with the one during Bush adminstration when conflicts like the 2008 - Russian intervention in Georgia or the United States' plans to buildi a system of interceptor in Easter Europe had significantly deteriorated mutual confidence. 

Lavrov quoted President Dmitry Medvedev as saying that the agreement should be "forward-looking" and should limit not only nuclear warheads but also strategic delivery systems. The Minister repeated a Russian call for the Middle East to be made a nuclear weapons-free zone.

"The task to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime in the Middle East remains urgent. We consistently advocate this region to become a nuclear-weapon-free zone, and eventually, a zone free from all other types of weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Lavrov also called for the "weaponization of outer space" to be prevented and urged Barack Obama's administration to ratify a global treaty banning underground nuclear tests. Clinton, speaking on Friday, also saw a new strategic arms treaty as a priority for Russia-US relations.

The United States wanted to reach agreement by the end of this year, when the START I treaty expires, she said. Lavrov has called the 1991 pact "obsolete."

Clinton said they wanted to present a plan to US President Barack Obama and Medvedev before they meet at the G20 summit in London on April 2, so they could agree on instructions to be given to negotiators.

Back