Moscow - US President Barack Obama plans to discuss concrete
steps towards nuclear arms control during his visit to Moscow next
week, he said in an interview released Friday
'My goal is that both countries reduce their nuclear stockpiles in
a way that doesn't leave either country with an advantage,' he told
the Russian Itar-Tass news agency.
'We want to get beyond the Cold War,' said Obama, who arrives in
Moscow on Monday for talks with president Dmitry Medvedev ahead of
travelling to the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Italy.
Obama is also scheduled to hold his first meeting with Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin, a man he described as 'a very strong leader
for the Russian people.'
The US president and Medvedev are expected to focus on finding a
replacement for the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START,
which expires December 5.
Experts expect the two leaders to sign a memorandum of
understanding that would reduce stockpiles to a maximum of 1,500
warheads per country.
Statistics released by both countries in April showed the US has
5,576 nuclear warheads and Russia 3,909.
US and Russian experts have been conducting intensive discussions
ahead of the visit, but have been unable to agree on concrete
reduction targets, the daily Kommersant reported Friday, quoting
delegation sources.
One of the key sticking points is the US plan to base a missile
defence system in Poland and Czech Republic, a move which Moscow is
strongly opposed to.
'It is impossible to discuss a reduction of strategic nuclear
weapons until there is absolute clarity about the US (missile) plans
in Europe,' Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the radio station Echo
Moskvy.
Other topics of the talks are likely to be the fight against
international terrorism, the situation in Afghanistan and confronting
Iranian and North Korean nuclear ambitions.
USA
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