Russia confirms to continue arms talks with U.S. in February
MOSCOW. January 23. KAZINFORM The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed on Saturday Russia and the United States would continue nuclear disarmament talks in Geneva in February; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
The Russian chief of staff, Gen. Nikolai Makarov, and the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, met in Moscow on Friday to discuss "the drafting of a new nuclear arms reduction treaty and major fields of bilateral cooperation in 2010," a defense ministry spokesman said.
They agreed "to continue the dialogue at the level of experts during the next round of negotiations in Geneva slated for February and to prepare the signing of the treaty," the spokesman said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday the two countries would resume their arms talks "at the start of February."
Russia and the United States have been working on a successor to the the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1) that expired on Dec. 5, 2009; Kazinform cites Xinhua.
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