Russia says ‘no progress’ on nuclear treaty

Moscow and Washington have made “no progress” in talks on saving a key arms control treaty, a Russian diplomat said yesterday, with the United States expected to begin withdrawal this weekend. Russian and US officials had met on the sidelines of a meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in Beijing to discuss the fate of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) -- a source of raging tensions between Moscow and Washington.

“Unfortunately, there is no progress,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said after talks with Andrea Thompson, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. The United States has warned that it will begin a six-month withdrawal process from the treaty on February 2 unless Russia destroys its 9M729 groundbased missile system, which it says breaches the Cold War-era agreement.

Ryabkov called the US position “rather tough, ultimatum-like” and “destructive,” state news agency RIA Novosti reported. “We have not made any progress. We state this not just with sorrow, but with deep concern for the fate of the treaty, for the fate of European and international security,” Ryabkov said.