MOSCOW. Feb 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Moscow should approach "very carefully" the discussion of possible proposals by Washington of the radical reduction of nuclear potentials on the parity basis, a Russian military diplomatic source told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
"The report by the British Times newspaper that U.S. President Barack Obama could propose to Russia a mutual 80% reduction of nuclear potentials did not come as a surprise, because Moscow has already received such signals from Washington at an informal level," the source said.
"Possible U.S. proposals on nuclear potential reduction should be approached very carefully because the limitation of strategic offensive weapons is closely tied with the missile defense issues," he said.
"The U.S. have pulled out from the anti-ballistic missile defense (ABM) treaty and got a serious strategic advantage by actively developing missile defense, particularly its space echelon," the source said. "That is why a radical reduction today would mean devaluating our strategic potential, because the U.S. is unlikely to go back to the ABM treaty," he said.
The proposal to freeze or suspend the U.S. missile shield does not solve the problem but only postpones it to a later date, the official said.
Moreover, the U.S. offers to radically reduce not only strategic but also tactical nuclear weapons, "where Russia remains slightly superior," he said.