The United States is dissatisfied with the pace with which the process of nuclear disarmament, but Russia doesn’t allow him to speed up. With such a statement, as reported by Reuters, was made by us President Barack Obama at the Summit on nuclear security held in Washington from 31 March to 1 April.
“My personal preference is to continue reducing the nuclear Arsenal,” – said the head of state. In his opinion, progress in this direction significantly slept once in 2012, Vladimir Putin once again was elected as President and continued “to pay more attention to the military strength of the country, by sacrificing economic development.”
Obama also added that it is extremely difficult to achieve reductions in the nuclear arsenals of other countries, while the US and Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, “not willing to set an example to others”, in particular, Pakistan and India, reports TASS.
We will remind, two days earlier, Obama in his column in The Washington Post alleged violations by Russia of the Treaty on the elimination of intermediate-range and shorter-range nuclear forces (INF) and urged Moscow to negotiate reductions in nuclear forces. He stressed that “the massive nuclear Arsenal of the cold war level” is not suitable for modern threats.
At the same time, he added that the implementation of the obligations under the contract continues, by 2018 the number of deployed U.S. and Russian nuclear warheads will be at their lowest level since 1950.
In Russia call Obama was considered “empty”. “The US must first rebuild Obama ties with Russia, and then offer us negotiations on nuclear weapons”, – wrote in his microblog on Twitter, the head of the state Duma Committee on international Affairs Alexei Pushkov.
Obama called the main problem of nuclear safety
According to the American leader, the most urgent problem in the field of nuclear safety is the DPRK and its programme of weapons of mass destruction and means of delivery. “The DPRK is in a completely separate category. She worries us most right now,” said Obama.
Then one of the journalists in the room reminded him of a statement made by billionaire Donald trump, one of the main favorites of the race for the right to be the next President of the United States. Trump suggested that Japan and South Korea to acquire nuclear weapons to “threaten” North Korea.
“What such statements mean? They mean that the person who made these statements, not many knows about foreign policy, nuclear policy, the Korean Peninsula and the world as a whole,” he said.
Obama Erdogan, Iran and terrorism
Responding to a question about whether he thinks Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authoritarian leader, Obama has gone from a direct answer, but noted that it is very concerned about the policy of Ankara.
He stressed that existing in Turkey, “the trend is against a free press” sooner or later may lead to dangerous consequences. The American President also called on Erdogan to halt the political persecution of journalists and not to undermine democratic regime in the country.
The main recommendation Obama to Iran was “following the spirit of the deal” on the nuclear program and not to scare away their business. He noted that Iran acts in accordance with the letter agreement, but the Republic should “send a signal to the world community and the companies that it will not engage in provocative activities”.
The US leader also reminded about the necessity of active exchange of data on “Islamic state” (IG DAYS, banned in Russia as a terrorist organization) in Syria. In addition, he acknowledged: “there is no doubt” that U.S. airstrikes in that country came to civil. “People died who should not have”, – stated the President.
