Medvedev calls for full disarmament for weapons of mass destruction

Although full disarmament is impossible in the nearest future, humanity must still attempt to realize it, Dmitry Medvedev has said.

The Russian president’s statement came while meeting students in Mumbai on his official visit to India. “Full disarmament is impossible in the nearest future. If I said something different you would think I am telling you a fairy tale,” Medvedev said. But he stressed that all nations must take steps to bring the risk of using weapons of mass destruction to a minimum. “We need other nations to agree with this idea. Everything here depends on Russia and the United States but many things depend also on other countries – you know yourself who now forms the so-called nuclear bloc, both formally and in fact. And these things must be negotiated with all, because if there is only one country that says no, all agreements with other countries would have no sense,” the Russian President said.Medvedev said that the Russia-US treaty on strategic arms reduction, the New START, was a good example of such agreements.The US Senate is expected to ratify the New START on Wednesday, following a lengthy discussion and objections on the part of Republican senators.