Russia is ready for deep cuts of strategic nuclear weapons in a new deal with the United States if the U.S. eases Moscow's concerns about plans for a missile defense system, President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday, AP reported. Medvedev lifted hopes for progress when President Barack Obama visits Moscow July 6-9 for talks focusing on replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires in December. Launching the talks was part of Obama's efforts to improve ties with Russia, which plunged to a post-Cold War low under the previous U.S. administration. U.S. and Russian arms negotiators have met several times in the last two months to prepare for the Moscow summit, with much of the discussion revolving around the missile defense system the U.S. had planned to install in Poland and the Czech Republic. Medvedev stopped short of demanding the system be scrapped, but indicated it remains a strong irritant. «We cannot agree with U.S. plans to create a global missile defense system,» he said in a statement released by the Kremlin. «I would like to emphasize that the proposed cuts are only possible if the U.S. relieves Russian concerns. In any case, the link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons must be clearly fixed in the treaty.»
