Russia Hopes Washington Will Clarify Its New Nuclear Strategy: Ambassador
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Russia hopes that the US will soon provide explanations for a number of ambiguous lines in its new nuclear strategy, Russian ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov told reporters.
"This document, published today [Friday] in Washington, requires careful study and analysis, and I expect that in the very near future there will be meetings between Russian and American experts, where our colleagues from Washington will give explanations on many lines in this document which remain unclear," he said.
According to Antonov, Russian experts "managed to get acquainted only with the open part of this document, with the first remarks made by [US James] Mattis, Defense Secretary."
"But to me, as a man who once dealt with disarmament and nonproliferation issues for a long time, even these first remarks certainly raise questions," he added, TASS news agency reported.
"First, the Russian Federation is shown in a negative light again. Russia, China, the DPRK and Iran are among the threats to the United States. I am only focusing on Russia - what is said about Russia? It is said that Russia can launch a nuclear strike, that Russia does not comply with international treaties - they mention among others the Treaty on short-and intermediate-range missiles, <...> of course, they mention issues of tactical nuclear weapons," Antonov said.
He said he was in particular surprised by the line saying that that Russia "rejects or rejected US proposals for further reductions in strategic offensive arms."
The US President ordered his government to prepare a new nuclear strategy on January 27 last year. The previous similar document was approved under President Barack Obama in 2010.
Commenting on the new strategy, Trump said that it "develops capabilities aimed at making use of nuclear weapons less likely." At the same time, the Pentagon noted that they do not rule out the use of nuclear weapons if the US is attacked by using conventional weapons.
