"During the election campaign, representatives of the Obama campaign made a number of interesting statements, including on the need to sign with Russia a legally binding agreement on strategic offensive weapons," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
The Russian diplomat, who attended a meeting in Paris on Friday of political directors of the Iran Six countries involved in negotiations on Tehran's controversial nuclear program, also praised the Obama transition team's pledge to seek a multilateral approach in world affairs.
"We take this all on board; essentially, it creates a favorable background for the start of our work with Obama's team. Whether or not these signals will become a reality is another matter. In any case, we will do all in our power to ensure that these are not merely election promises."
In his election campaign literature, Obama pledged to: "seek deep, verifiable reductions in all U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons and work with other nuclear powers to reduce global stockpiles dramatically by the end of his presidency."
On the mutual nuclear deterrent with Russia, the campaign team said: "Keeping nuclear weapons ready to launch on a moment's notice is a dangerous relic of the Cold War. Barack Obama believes that we must address this dangerous situation. As president, Barack Obama will aim to work with Russia to end such Cold War policies in a mutual and verifiable manner."
