"Today, in response to my inquiry, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it [nuclear installation inspection] was impossible and talk about it was speculations," Mr. Rogozin told the media.
According to the Rodina leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the mid-February meeting of four Duma faction leaders that the United States would not inspect Russian nuclear installations, including military ones.
This week, some of the media reported that in Bratislava, Russia and the United States had come to terms on mutual inspections of their nuclear installations.
Speaking with the media in the wake of the Bratislava summit meeting wrapped up last Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov warned against speculations on security of the Russian and US nuclear storage facilities.
He stressed that the declaration on nuclear security, issued during the summit meeting, "stated that the Russian and US nuclear storage facilities were safe and secure. There should be no speculations on that."
According to Mr. Ivanov, the Russian and US leaders "realize full well that we are the major nuclear powers and shoulder the responsibility for maintaining reliable control over our nuclear capabilities".
Mr. Ivanov said that the two countries "face the future" and realize that terrorists would always try to gain access to nuclear weapons. Therefore, the parties agreed to share "practical aspects" aimed to prevent terrorists from laying their hands on nuclear weapons.
He said he meant "sharing data on systems, hardware and personnel protecting and defending the installation, including air defenses".
Mr. Ivanov emphasized that the nuclear security document adopted during the summit meeting mentions "nomutual visits to each other's nuclear installations, let alone compulsory ones".
