Russia, on Wednesday, expressed readiness to guarantee transparency and restore confidence with the European countries through dialogue in the field of controlling medium and short-range missiles, said Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. This came during a speech at the Moscow Conference on International Security. The minister affirmed that his country is ready to agree on a set of measures that would guarantee transparency and restore confidence between Russia and the West in the field of controlling medium and short-range missiles. He pointed out that these missile systems pose a "danger" to European countries because they are capable of carrying both normal and nuclear warheads. He added that the situation related to arms control in Europe largely depends on the position of the US, noting that the recent Russian-American summit in Geneva stressed the importance of resuming the strategic dialogue. Russia announced its withdrawal from the INF Treaty, after the United States withdrew from it last year. (end) Earlier, during the end of last year Russia had indicated that it hoped to continue dialogue with the US on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) Russia had indicated that it would like to continue dialogue and negotiations with the United States on a range of security and arms control issues. In 2010, Washington and Moscow signed the New START, which stipulates limits to the numbers of deployed nuclear warheads and strategic delivery systems by both. The New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty in force between the two nuclear superpowers, expired on Feb. 5, 2021. — Agencies
