US nuclear weapons deployed in Europe can reach Russian territory (Russian FM)

Operationally deployed US nuclear weapons still remain in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday at a disarmament conference in Geneva.
The minister said that within the framework of the implementation of the so-called Presidential Initiatives of 1991-1992 Russia has by three-thirds cut its non-strategic nuclear weapons arsenal, transferred such weapons "to the category of non-deployed and placed them in central storages within the boundaries of the national territory."

"This is an unprecedented step taken despite the fact that US nuclear weapons’ capable of reaching Russia’s territory are still operationally deployed in Europe," Lavrov said.

"Moreover, these American weapons are being modernized, and some European non-nuclear NATO members are actively involved in the so-called joint nuclear missions," the foreign minister said. "These joint drills of using nuclear weapons with the participation of non-nuclear NATO countries, confirmed by decisions of last year’s NATO summit in Wales, are conducted in violation of the first two fundamental articles of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons."

Lavrov commented on the development of the US anti-ballistic missile system.

"Today, the strategic parity is affected by many factors," the minister said. "Those are the unilateral activities of the United States and their allies in organisation of the global ABM, which have already affected destructively the strategic stability, realistically undermining progress towards the so-called Nuclear Zero - the objective, which, I believe, many participants are sharing."

The diplomat noted that further reductions of and restrictions on nuclear arsenals can be carried out on condition of equitable and indivisible security for all countries.

"It is obvious that any further reductions of and restrictions on nuclear arsenals can be carried out only on the condition of ensuring equitable and indivisible security for all states," he said. "This is precisely the approach to nuclear disarmament that is enshrined in the consensus action plan for the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty.

He also stressed that the potential of the Disarmament Conference hasn't been exhausted, and its functions should be restored fully......................http://tass.ru/en/russia/780395
2/3/15
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