28.05 Russia Calls For Multilateral Nuclear Cuts

MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti) � Russia is not willing to negotiate further bilateral nuclear cuts with the United States until other nuclear powers join the process, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

�We cannot endlessly negotiate with the United States the reduction and limitation of nuclear arms while some other countries are strengthening their nuclear and missile capabilities,� Ryabkov told the the Voice of Russia radio on Monday.

�Making nuclear disarmament a multilateral process becomes a priority,� he said.

Ryabkov added that Russia has never shunned a discussion of the total nuclear disarmament, or �nuclear zero,� but this should not be an absolute goal, �otherwise we will simply undermine the very foundation of our national security.�

The New START nuclear arms treaty, signed by Russia and the United States in 2010, limits the number of nuclear warheads deployed by each side to 1,550 and the number of their delivery vehicles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and nuclear-capable bombers, to 700.

According to a report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in 2011, the eight recognized nuclear powers - Russia, the United States, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel - possess more than 20,500 nuclear weapons.