Russia wants US inspections of its missile arsenal relaxed in a new arms reduction deal now being negotiated with the United States, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted Wednesday as saying.
"The regime of controls, inspections and verifications must without question be relaxed in the new treaty," Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying on a return flight from India late Tuesday.
Lavrov dubbed the issue of inspections one of the "technical" problems in talks between Moscow and Washington to fulfill their joint pledge to conclude a new disarmament treaty before the old one expires on December 5.
Analysts have said Russia wants an end to intrusive US inspections at its main missile factory in Votkinsk, 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) east of Moscow, while the United States wants to continue the checks.
"The old treaty was negotiated in the absence of mutual trust and under the Cold War… Now, we with the United States have unambiguously stated that we no longer view each other as enemies," Lavrov told reporters.
"Therefore, I think the regime of controls under the old agreement will be simplified and subsequently less costly."
Within days, Russia expects to receive US proposals for "various compromises" on Moscow's concerns with the renewal of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), Lavrov said.
US National Security Adviser James Jones is due in Moscow this week for talks aimed at forging a new US-Russian agreement and will meet Lavrov among other senior Russian officials, according to the White House.
START, signed in 1991 just before the break-up of the Soviet Union, bound both sides to deep cuts in their nuclear arsenals and set limits on long-range missiles.
At a Moscow summit in July, the US and Russian presidents agreed to each reduce their nuclear arsenal to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads within seven years.
They also agreed to cut the number of ballistic missile carriers to between 500 and 1,100.
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