Missile defense

Global missile defense main obstacle to nuclear talks with US - Russian diplomat

Nuclear talks with the United States are impossible without reaching a mutually acceptable agreement on the global missile defense system, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said.

“Without finding a solution to the missile defense problem, without preventing a new arms race in space and making the nuclear test ban a universal treaty, without settling the issues connected with the lack of balance in conventional weapons, the nuclear talks with the United States are impossible,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Thursday by RIA Novosti. “They know about it, it has been publicly announced before,” he added.

The diplomat also said that Russian authorities understood as “absolutely evident” the global scale of the missile defense system created by the United States and NATO.

“NATO members continue to build up their anti-missile potential in Europe as part of their so-called phased adaptive approach. We have repeatedly expressed our concern over the placing of strategic infrastructure in the direct vicinity of our borders as this affects our interests in the security sphere,” Ryabkov said.