Russia ready to reduce N-arms

[struggle4progress]

Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations | May 17, 2005 18:04 IST

Russia is prepared to reduce its strategic nuclear arsenal below 1,500 warheads, less than the level agreed to with the United States, but Moscow is concerned about nuclear threats on its border, two senior Russian officials said Monday. <snip>

At the opening of the treaty review conference earlier this month, Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Washington and Moscow "to commit themselves --irreversibly --to further cuts in their arsenals, so that warheads number in the hundreds, not the thousands."

Under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, nations without nuclear weapons pledge not to pursue them, in exchange for a commitment by five nuclear states --the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China --to negotiate toward disarmament. <snip>

http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/may/17russia.htm