Russia may disclose data on nuclear stockpiles - Foreign Ministry
17:3312/05/2010 MOSCOW, May 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is considering disclosing data on its nuclear stockpiles, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
The statement came just over a week after the U.S. Department of Defense for the first time revealed top-secret data on its nuclear arsenals, saying the country's stockpile contained a total of 5,113 nuclear warheads.
"When the new arms reduction treaty, signed in Prague on April 8 by the Russian and U.S. presidents, comes into force, we will also be able to consider on a practical level the issue of disclosing Russia's total number of deployed strategic delivery systems and the warheads attributed to them," Andrei Nesterenko said.
Commenting on the move by the United States to unveil data on its nuclear arsenals, Nesterenko said "we consider that the step taken by Washington will increase transparency and contribute to the strengthening of trust between nuclear and non-nuclear powers."
Nuclear cooperation between Russia and the United States has been the focus of bilateral relations over the past few months.
At a meeting in Prague in April, the two countries, which possess about 90% of global nuclear weapons arsenals, agreed to reduce the number of nuclear warheads to 1,550 on each side and the number of deployed and non-deployed delivery vehicles to 800 on each side.
The new arms cuts treaty, which is still to be ratified by the Russian and U.S. parliaments, replaces the START 1 treaty, the cornerstone of a post-Cold War arms control setup that expired on December 5, 2009.
On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama revived a civil nuclear agreement with Russia by resubmitting it to the Congress, almost two years after Washington froze the deal following Russia's brief war with U.S. ally Georgia over the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia in August 2008.
In a letter addressed to U.S. lawmakers, Obama said "performance of the proposed agreement will promote, and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to the common defense and security."
If it comes into forces, the agreement will open up possibilities for widespread commercial nuclear trade, technology exchange, and joint nuclear research between Washington and Moscow. It will also clear the way for Russia to make headway in the profitable business of importing and storing spent nuclear fuel from U.S.-supplied reactors.
Obama told lawmakers that the situation in Russia's North Caucasus and Georgia no longer obstructs the agreement and that the level and scope of U.S.-Russia cooperation on the Iranian nuclear issue were "sufficient" to justify resubmitting the agreement to Congress.
The U.S. has repeatedly called for harsher sanctions to be imposed on Tehran, which is suspected by Western powers of attempting to build nuclear weapons under the guise of civilian nuclear energy generation.
Russia, a member of the Iran Six group of international mediators on Iran's nuclear program, has long opposed the new sanctions and called for a diplomatic solution to the issue. During recent meetings of the group, however, Russia has shown signs of willingness to cooperate in discussions of a resolution to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
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