Russia, US 'must lead new arms deal'

[Marulus]

Russia, US 'must lead new arms deal'

Article from: Reuters

From correspondents in Munich

February 10, 2008 11:31pm

RUSSIA and the United States must lead efforts to replace existing arms limitation rules with an international, legally binding regime, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

He made the call at a security conference in Munich, in a conciliatory speech that was in stark contrast to President Vladimir Putin's repeated attacks on US arms policies he says risk sparking a new arms race.

Mr Ivanov, a Kremlin hawk who until recently had been viewed by analysts as a favourite to succeed President Putin, said it was time to replace the SALT 1 arms control pact agreed between Washington and Moscow during the Cold War.

"As I see it, this is precisely an area of international relations where Russia and the United States not merely could, but are directly obliged to show leadership," Mr Ivanov said.

"Today there are several nuclear powers in the world and even more countries with a strong missile capacity ... Sooner or later, we will have to start working in a multilateral format," he told the same event at which President Putin a year earlier accused Washington of seeking world domination.

President Putin's preferred successor, Dmitry Medvedev, has not yet set out his foreign policy priorities ahead of March elections and it was not clear what status Mr Ivanov's call had.

Mr Ivanov said Moscow wanted to "occupy an appropriate place in world politics" but pledged that it would use its huge energy reserves – vital for European supplies – responsibly.

[source]