Russia wants flexible arms treaty

Russia, the world's second-biggest arms dealer, wants a flexible arms-control treaty, a diplomat told a U.N. conference. Alexander Deineko, the deputy head of the Foreign Ministry Department of Security and Disarmament, told other delegates Friday a treaty should outline general principles on the arms trade and leave the specifics of implementing it up to the signing states, RIA Novosti reported. "The document should establish general rules and principles, while their implementation mode will be decided upon by governments proceeding from the specifics of national legislation and existing practice," Deineko said. The Center for Analysis of the World Arms Trade in Moscow said the United States sells about 40 percent of the conventional weapons on the market every year with revenues in 2011 of almost $29 billion. Russian arms sales totaled $13 billion in 2011, up from $6 billion in 2005. President Vladimir Putin said recently he hopes to increase arms sales by $500 million in the next year. The U.N. conference is scheduled to run through the end of the month. Many insiders say a treaty with any real teeth is unlikely given the number of countries that profit from selling weapons.