By RIA Novosti
Munich : Russia would safeguard its national interests without creating any military blocs, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Sunday.
Ivanov told an international security conference in Munich that Russia had opted for developing multi-vector cooperation with different countries of the world, instead of creating any military blocs or becoming involved in open confrontation with its opponents.
A new strategic arms reduction pact expected to replace START-I, which expires in December 2009, should stipulate the reduction of strategic arms by all the countries of the nuclear club, he said.
The START-I treaty was signed by the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union July 31, 1991, and remains in force between the US, Russia and three other former Soviet states.
The three former Soviet republics – Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine – have since disposed of all their nuclear weapons or transferred them to Russia or the US. The current treaty expires Dec 5, 2009.
“Today there are several nuclear powers in the world and the number of countries with substantial missile potential is even greater. All of them, and not only Russia and the US, should realize their share of responsibility for maintaining strategic stability,” Ivanov said.
Ivanov also said that Russia was against Serbia’s breakaway province of Kosovo declaring independence and setting a precedent for other separatist regions.
Ivanov said that if the European Union (EU) recognized the independence of Kosovo, then it should recognize, for example, the independence of Northern Cyprus occupied by Turkey.
Most Western states back Kosovo’s drive for independence, and recently agreed that its status would be determined by the EU and NATO. Russia insists that Serbia and Kosovo continue to seek a compromise.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said earlier that Kosovo’s independence was an accomplished fact and would be declared as soon as the US and the EU were ready to recognize it.