MOSCOW. Dec 24 (Interfax) - The United States has violated the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) by unilaterally excluding some of its delivery vehicles from the count, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
"Yes, we see this as a violation of the treaty, and we insist on settling this problem," Ryabkov told Interfax on Monday when asked whether Moscow sees a procedure applied by the U.S. to re-equip some of its delivery vehicles as a violation of New START.
"The extension of the treaty should be preceded by the settlement of the problem of the unilateral exclusion of part of the vehicles from the count by declaring them re-equipped in such a way that Russia cannot verify that this re-equipment is irreversible," he said.
Asked whether this means that the New START will not be extended if the U.S. doesn't settle the issue, Ryabkov replied: "They should settle it. Let them first settle it."
Russia has insisted on settling the problem for quite a long time, Ryabkov said. The matter was first raised behind closed doors, at all meetings of the bilateral commission which is convened twice a year, in line with the treaty, he said.
"Then, as long as we have been increasingly more convinced that the U.S. is not willing to resolve the issue on a mutually acceptable way, we started saying about it, including publicly - first in a low voice, and now we are openly saying about this out loud," he said.