Russia, US resume landmark nuclear talks

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 |

GENEVA: US and Russian negotiators met in Geneva to discuss new cuts in nuclear weapons arsenals, their last scheduled round of talks before a

summit between their presidents next month.

The third round of talks on replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) was due to last two days.

"The negotiations restarted at 1430 IST today at the Russian mission," a Russian diplomat said.

Negotiators also met on Monday, Russian and US diplomatic sources added.

The attempt to strike a new deal to succeed START, which expires on December 5, symbolises a thaw in US-Russian relations in recent months, although the Russians are insisting on concessions on the US missile defence shield.

The negotiations are meant to prepare the ground for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's landmark meeting with US counterpart Barack Obama in Moscow on July 6.

"Restarting the US-Russian nuclear arms control process will help repair frayed US-Russian relations, open the way for dramatic reductions in the overall number of nuclear weapons, and improve global cooperation to help meet other nuclear threats," said US disarmament analyst Daryl Kimball.

The stockpiles of several thousand nuclear warheads were the obvious place to start to defuse tensions, while allowing Obama to gain bipartisan support in Congress, he added in a briefing note.


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