Russia says U.S. slowing down nuclear talks | World News |Axisoflogic.com

Russia on Thursday accused the United States of slowing down talks to agree a new nuclear weapons disarmament treaty, after officials admitted the two sides could no longer sign the accord this year.

U.S. and Russian officials have been holding intense talks in Geneva on replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which led to deep cuts in their nuclear arsenals but expired on December 5 without a replacement.

"In the past couple of days we have noted a slowdown in the positions of the U.S. negotiators in Geneva," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Lavrov also poured cold water on reports suggesting a new treaty would be signed at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, which ends Friday and will be attended by both US President Barack Obama and Russia's Dmitry Medvedev.

"It is highly unlikely to happen in Copenhagen," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.

Replacing START appears to be turning into an embarrassment as Russia and the United States have broken a series of deadlines to agree the deal.

Medvedev and Obama had first pledged to sign the successor treaty by the time the original agreement expired on December 5.

Then the officials on both sides said the deal would be signed by end of the year, possibly in one of European capitals.

On Wednesday, a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters not to expect the deal with Russia before the year's end.

U.S. officials, he said, "expect that the START talks are powering right through the weekend, they're going to go right up to Christmas (then) breaking for the holidays and coming back in January."

A Kremlin official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity Thursday, refused to say when the agreement would be signed.

Asked what the delay in signing was connected to, the official said: "Nothing. The agreement is almost ready. Just running out of time in terms of organization."

An informed source in Moscow told the Interfax news agency Thursday that "the number of details that need to be agreed is such that it's physically impossible to do it all in the time left until the end of the year."

Lavrov said: "The work is continuing. A lot of key issues have already been agreed upon but some things remain to be solved."

Some observers have alleged Russia is deliberately throwing the wrench in the works to prolong the talks.

"If there were political will, the agreement could be signed at any moment," Alexander Golts, an independent defence analyst, told AFP.

"But it's important for Russia that these talks last forever," he said, noting the Kremlin had been enjoying the limelight as the world's most powerful nation took the time to agree the key deal with Moscow.

"We are putting on airs, we're temporizing."

Newsweek's Russian edition, citing diplomatic sources, reported this week that Medvedev wanted to replace the treaty by December 5 but his powerful predecessor in the Kremlin Vladimir Putin had convinced him "not to hurry."

The magazine said the U.S. team had hinted it wanted to sign the agreement by the time Obama was to receive the Nobel Prize on December 10.

"It was a tactical mistake," a high-ranking diplomat told the magazine. "In Moscow the request was considered a manifestation of weakness."

Raw Story/AFP