MOSCOW. Feb 3 (Interfax) - The international community has no doubt that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, and the dispute is also about the size of its nuclear arsenal, Russian Foreign Ministry Security and Disarmament Department Mikhail Ulyanov said.
"The international disarmament community does not have doubts regarding Israel's nuclear status. Specialists are arguing only about the number of warheads and delivery vehicles it has," Ulyanov said in an interview with Interfax.
Russia insists on Israel's, India's and Pakistan's accession to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, he said.
The NPT signatories instructed Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the UN secretary-general in 2010 to convene a conference on the Middle East nuclear weapon free zone by the end of 2012, Ulyanov said.
"Despite efforts that have been made, this instruction was not fulfilled on time, primarily because Israel is so far not prepared to take part in the conference," he said.
"Nevertheless, the preparatory work is continuing. Unofficial multilateral consultations have been started at our initiative with the region's countries involved. Some progress has taken shape. The convention of the conference should provide an impetus to movement toward ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction," he said.