BOSTON, November 8 (RIA Novosti) — Moscow is open to a new round of nuclear disarmament talks with Washington, but only if Russia's strategic interests are considered, Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak said Saturday.
"We want negotiations to happen, that's what [Russian President] Vladimir Putin said the other day… The problem is that we are only interested in talks that would genuinely take Russia's defense interests into account, which means they should include not just nuclear arms, but also a complex of new armaments that are entering service with the US Armed Forces and that infringe Russian strategic defense interests," Kislyak said.
Speaking at a conference of the US-based Russian-American Scientists Association (RASA) in Boston, Massachusetts, the Russian diplomat said the case in point was US non-nuclear high-precision weapons. He said the offensive potential of these weapons was on par with nuclear warheads.
At the same time, Sergei Kislyak admitted that Russia and the United States still cooperate in the sphere of nuclear non-proliferation, "and it is fruitful because it serves the interests of both the US and our country," he pointed out.
