SEOUL – Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday Moscow hoped US political infighting would not sink the new strategic arms reduction (Start) treaty and called for ratification of the nuclear arms limitation pact this year.
Mr Lavrov, speaking a week before Russian president Dmitry Medvedev meets Nato leaders, also said Moscow could co-operate with the alliance on missile defenceif the partnership was equal. Ratification of the Start treaty and co-operation on missile defence are crucial milestones in efforts to improve relations between Russia and the West, which hit a post-cold war low with Moscow’s 2008 war against Georgia.
Mr Lavrov, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G20 summit, expressed concern the nuclear pact, signed by Mr Medvedev and President Barack Obama in April, could fall prey to partisan politics in the US after the major gains made by Republicans in the mid-term elections.
“I can only express our sincere hope that a desire to defeat a competing party in the US Congress and in the domestic political sphere on the whole will not prevail over US understanding of its deep-rooted national interest,” he said.
The treaty, which would cut the number of deployed nuclear weapons allowed in Russian and US arsenals by about 30 per cent and revive verification procedures, requires ratification by the 100-seat US Senate and Russia’s State Duma.
Mr Obama wants the Senate to approve it during a “lame-duck” session due to start next week, because the Republican party’s Senate gains could make it harder to secure the 67 votes needed when the newly elected Senate convenes next year.
Mr Medvedev has made clear the Kremlin-controlled Duma should not ratify the treaty until Senate approval is certain. The nuclear arms treaty is a major element of Mr Obama’s campaign to “reset” relations with Russia, which had deteriorated under his predecessor, George W Bush.
The Kremlin has embraced the efforts and reciprocated by stepping up pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme and opening transit routes aiding US operations in Afghanistan. Mr Lavrov staked out Russia’s position ahead of Mr Medvedev’s meetings with Nato leaders on November 20th in Lisbon, the first such summit since Russia’s August 2008 war with Nato-aspirant Georgia.
He said Russia wanted to leave the cold war behind and forge a “strategic partnership” with Nato, but stressed Moscow sees itself as an equal and criticised the alliance’s global reach.
“We can state that the period of uncertainly after the cold war is over,” Mr Lavrov said.
“We will not only draw a line under this period, but formulate tasks for a strategic partnership. Nato is not a threat, but one of the dangers is Nato’s desire to project its military potential outside its territory.”
Mr Lavrov said Moscow will only accept the alliance’s proposal for co-operation on a shield to protect against missile attacks if it has a strong say in the process.
“If it is interaction based on equality, beginning with joint assessments of all the risks that exist in the area of missile proliferation, then such co-operation is entirely possible,” state-run RIA news agency quoted him as saying.
Mr Obama pleased the Kremlin by scrapping Bush-era missile defence plans that Moscow saw as a threat, but Russian officials have complained the US is pushing ahead with its revised plans unilaterally despite the co-operation offers. – (Reuters)