Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the ratification of the New START arms reduction treaty will increase international stability and promote Russian-U.S. cooperation, RIA Novosti reports.
"The principles of equality, parity, equal and undivided security lay a solid foundation for the modern Russian-American cooperation in various spheres," Lavrov said at the global security conference in Munich on Saturday.
The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed the exchange the instruments of ratification for the New START arms reduction treaty on Saturday with her Russian counterpart Lavrov.
Clinton said the treaty is an example of a "clear-eyed cooperation that is in everyone's interests."
The new deal, replacing START 1, which expired in December 2009, was signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama in Prague in April 2010. The document slashes the Russian and U.S. strategic nuclear arsenals to a maximum of 1,550 warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200.
Russian Foreign Minister stressed Moscow's position to preserve the strategic parity in the sphere of missile defense.
"It happens so that NATO in its inner elaboration of the anti-ballistic missile [ABM] intends to make a step or two steps further than we will be doing together as part of the NATO-Russia Council," Lavrov said at the global security conference in Munich on Saturday.
Lavrov said Russia's agreement to discuss cooperation on missile defense in the NATO-Russia Council does not mean that Moscow agrees to the NATO projects which are being developed without Russia's participation.
The minister said the fulfillment of the third and fourth phases of the U.S. "adaptive approach" will enter a strategic level threatening the efficiency of Russia's nuclear containment forces.
Russia has retained staunch opposition to the deployment of missile-defense systems near its borders, claiming they would be a security threat. NATO and the United States insist that the shield would defend NATO members against missiles from North Korea and Iran and would not be directed at Russia.
Lavrov has also warned against NATO's focus on "the threats from the East" saying that this approach will be always generating a "search for an enemy" and "heat up tension."
The Russian foreign minister also said the European missile defense system should not be "used to distract attention from the U.S.-NATO anti-ballistic missile."
