From Reuters
Russia voiced concern on Wednesday about U.S. missile defenses and high-precision conventional weapons, signaling that nuclear arms cuts proposed by President Barack Obama are likely to face formidable obstacles.
In a speech in Berlin, Obama said he wanted to reduce the strategic nuclear weapons the United States deploys by a third and would seek to negotiate cuts with Russia. The former Cold War foes possess the vast majority of the world's nuclear weapons.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Moscow's concerns about the anti-missile shields the United States and NATO are deploying, and said the development of high-precision non-nuclear weapons could upset the strategic balance.
"These weapons are approaching the level of strategic nuclear arms in terms of their strike capability. States possessing such weapons strongly increase their offensive potential," Putin said at a meeting on defense issues in the Russian city of St Petersburg.
"How can we take the idea of strategic nuclear weapons reductions seriously when the United States is building up its ability to intercept these strategic nuclear weapons?" he said.
"These things clearly do not go together. It's obvious that Russia's highest political leadership cannot take such proposals seriously," Rogozin told reporters.
