(All quotes are transcribed from the original English)
MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) - NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow has called for mutual reduction of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe by Russia and the NATO countries.
"No one is concerned about stability of the situation right now, but we believe we can reach greater stability through transparency and reciprocal reductions from the current levels," Vershbow said in an interview with Interfax on Friday.
He recalled that, at the 2012 summit in Chicago, NATO decided to conduct a comprehensive review of its defense and deterrence policy, including NATO policy on nuclear weapons.
"The Allies made it very clear that they are strongly interested in engaging with Russia, first of all to increase the transparency of the current nuclear weapons systems that exist on the NATO side and on the Russian side, and then looking to the future to discuss the possibility of reductions of non-strategic nuclear weapons, recognizing that this has to be done on the reciprocal basis," he said.
"Dialog is still at a very early stage," he said.
NATO has a special new committee to coordinate its position and to come up with ideas on these issues, he said.
"We hope that the NATO-Russia Council, which has a special forum on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, can serve as a mechanism for finding a common approach. I imagine it would also be a very important subject on the bilateral U.S.-Russia dialog, given that the nuclear weapons on the NATO side - primarily they belong to the United States," Vershbow said.
"NATO takes a coordinated approach to this and will look forward to engaging with Russia on this issue," he said.
The full version of Vershbow's interview will be available at www.interfax.com.