Russia, US Nuclear Disarmament Goes Without 'Stagnation' – Official

Since 1987 Moscow has been working with Washington on the reduction of nuclear arsenals almost without pause.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — There is no stagnation in Russian and US relations regarding nuclear disarmament, the head of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

"The notion that there is a stagnation in relations between Russia and the United States in the field of nuclear disarmament is very popular. But in reality it is not true and misleading," Mikhail Ulyanov told RIA Novosti.

He stressed that since 1987 Moscow has been working with the United States on the reduction of nuclear arsenals almost without pause.

"What kind of stagnation they are talking about, I do not understand. Maybe it is more correct to say that a significant number of countries would like to see the pace of nuclear disarmament to be sped up significantly, but it is a quite different matter…"

He added that Russia would raise at the forthcoming Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Review conference the question of NATO’s joint nuclear missions extension violating the agreement.

In 1987 the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was concluded by the USSR and the United States. The INF was followed by the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and the unratified 1993 START II treaty. In 2002 the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) was ratified, paving the way for the 2010 New START agreement.

Under New START, signed by Moscow and Washington, both countries must limit the number of ballistic missiles and heavy bombers equipped with nuclear warheads to 700 and nuclear warheads to 1,550.

The treaty obliges the two nations to meet the stipulated limits on strategic arms by February 5, 2018.

A 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will be held from April 27 to May 22 in New York.