Russian FM: Make Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1069219.html

Last update - 14:25 07/03/2009

Russia repeated on Saturday its call for the Middle East to be made a nuclear weapons-free zone.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, addressing a disarmament conference after holding bilateral talks in Geneva on Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said:

"The task to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime in the Middle East remains urgent. We consistently advocate this region to become a nuclear-weapon-free zone, and eventually, a zone free from all other types of weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Lavrov also called for a successor deal with the United States to their Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), saying this was a priority in 'resetting' their relations as Washington has urged.

"We are prepared, as was suggested by our American partners, to "reset" our relations ... Conclusion of a new legally-binding Russian-American treaty on strategic offensive weapons could become a priority step in that direction."