Moscow wants fresh start on arms talks with NATO

Moscow wanted to press the reset button on conventional arms reduction talks with NATO, new Russian envoy to the military bloc Alexander Grushko said Thursday. "The main thing is to start these consultations, not to call them talks, with no attempts to tie them to political problems," Grushko said. The envoy urged a "new start" to the talks as the latest weapons had changed the landscape of the negotiations, he told reporters. Grushko said a better forum for such talks would be the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe rather than NATO itself. The ball was in the court of Russia's partners as Moscow was ready for the joint work, he said. The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was signed in Paris in November 1990 by 22 states, 16 of them belonging to NATO and six to the pro-Soviet Warsaw Treaty Organization. In July 2007, Russia suspended its participation in the Treaty, accusing NATO of beefing up its military capabilities. Apart from the conventional arms reduction talks, Grushko said lack of agreement between Moscow and NATO over the anti-missile defense issue would seriously harm their relations. "If for political reasons that project fails, it means even in the sphere of common interests there are dividing lines, stereotypes preventing us from uniting resources. It will be a serious blow to Russia-NATO relations," he said.