Russia Warns the United States

Russia warns it could withdraw from a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty - due to be signed this week - if its security is threatened. Lets get the full report.<br /><br />Two days before Obama is to sign a landmark nuclear arms reduction pact with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Moscow's warning. They could withdraw from the treaty if U.S. missile-defense plans threaten Russia.<br /><br />He said Russia shares the aim of a world without nuclear arms, which Obama set out in Prague a year ago. But he made it clear Moscow won't come on board without steps to assuage its fears of ending up on the wrong side of a strategic imbalance.<br /><br />[Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister]: (Russian)<br />"To move toward a nuclear-free world, it is necessary, as I have already said, to resolve the question of non-nuclear-equipped strategic offensive weapons and strategic weapons in general, which are being worked on by the United States.”<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />[Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister]: (Russian)<br />"World states will hardly accept a situation in which nuclear weapons will disappear but weapons that are no less destabilizing emerge in the hands of certain members of the international community and these weapons, in a strategic and military sense, will serve the same goal. So, in the context of reducing all types of offensive weapons we can talk about moving towards a nuclear-free world, but, I reiterate, there is no framework for this, and the agreement on this issue has yet to be reached.”<br /><br />Obama has acknowledged that the goal of a world without nuclear weapons may not be reached in his lifetime. But his administration has indicated it hopes further reductions will follow once the treaty is signed on Thursday.<br /><br />Lavrov spoke hours before Obama was to unveil a new policy calling for reduced U.S. reliance on its nuclear deterrent.<br /><br />The United States says the shield would be aimed to defend against nations such as Iran and is no threat to Russia.