MUNICH. Feb 7 (Interfax-AVN) - Nuclear weapons can only be fully given up if strategic stability is established in the world, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.
"We believe that full destruction of nuclear weapons as the final goal of the long-term universal and full disarmament process can only be achieved in a situation of strategic stability and through strict observance of the principle of equal and indivisible security for everybody," Ivanov told a conference on security in Munich on Saturday.
The New START Treaty signed by the U.S. and Russia in Prague on April 8, 2010 is an important step to this historical goal, nuclear-free world, he said.
"Russia as the main nuclear power and a permanent member of the UN Security Council fully realizes its special responsibility for nuclear disarmament," he said.
"Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made the fulfillment of the duties under Article 6 of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty a long-term strategic priority of Russia's foreign policy," Ivanov said.