MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said
Wednesday he was in favor of a world free of nuclear weapons if other
countries were willing to pursue the same goal.
Speaking at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, Putin said: "Why do we need nuclear weapons? If other
nuclear states are ready for (a nuclear-weapons-free world), we are
too."
U.S. President Barack Obama set out his vision for ridding the world of nuclear arms in April,
declaring the United States was ready to lead steps by all states with
atomic weapons to reduce their arsenals.
Obama is due in Russia next month for talks with President Dmitry Medvedev on
a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which
expires on December 5.
Before his visit, the two sides are trying to narrow their differences. Moscow has
said it wants to link the nuclear talks to U.S. plans, which it
strongly opposes, to deploy an anti-missile shield in central Europe.
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