Russia and the US intend to sign a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) as soon as possible, Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.
The Voice of Russia has been providing extensive coverage of the negotiations the two countries are having on START. And you might say this is just a question of time, and the only thing we could do is wait until the talks are over. President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev announced that the sides had almost completed the talks. And the country's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has recently said that the long-awaited treaty will be signed in two-three weeks. However, the issue deserves our constant attention for it is very important not only for Russia and the US but to the whole world. I find it necessary to comment on the START talks also because our American partners have been blaming Russia for hampering the talks, though both Presidents, Obama and Medvedev, had confirmed their intention to complete the talks before the START-1, which was signed in 1991, expired on 5 December, 2009. The US-based daily The Politico says Russia is allegedly not interested in a new disarmament treaty. The US Department of State also urged Russia to speed up the negotiating process. Some anonymous sources in the White House even accused Moscow of making some demands which Washington could not accept.
It is worth mentioning that all these suppositions emerged despite the fact that the sides had originally agreed to hold talks behind closed doors and not inform the media on the details. And the Russian diplomats do respect this agreement, and if ever decide to comment on the issue, do it carefully. Currently, the two parties are in the 10th round of negotiations which opened in Geneva on March 9. Apart from this, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected in Moscow on March 18-19, and her visit might also give a new impulse to the ongoing START talks.
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