Moscow pushes for link between new arms deal with U.S. and missile defense | Top Russian news and analysis online | ‘RIA Novosti’ newswire: “Moscow expects a new nuclear arms reduction treaty between Russia and the United States to be linked to Washington’s plans to deploy missile shield elements in Europe, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
Lavrov said President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. counterpart Barack Obama reaffirmed this linkage at their telephone talks on Wednesday.
‘Our president and his American counterpart reaffirmed their agreements, and the negotiating teams in Geneva must heed the connection between strategic offensive weapons and defensive armaments,’ Lavrov said in an interview with satellite channel Russia Today, and state agencies RIA Novosti and Voice of Russia.
‘We expect the American negotiators will set out this connection as it has been agreed on [by the presidents],’ Lavrov said.”