Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, speaking in Canada on Thursday during a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Eight, said Russia is interested in continuing talks with the United States on nuclear arms and missile defense. "The primary aim now is to minimize the negative consequences of the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Both Ivanov and Mikhail Margelov, chief of the Federation Council's foreign affairs committee, said it was thanks to Russia's insistence on a new formal U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty -- the Moscow Treaty, signed during the summit last month -- that the negotiation process was kept alive.
Others were less conciliatory. State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov said the United States had lost trust among other members of the international community, Interfax reported.
Dmitry Rogozin, the hard-line head of the Duma foreign affairs committee called the U.S. withdrawal a "big political mistake," adding that Russia was freed from the conditions of START II as a result, Interfax said.
The Moscow Treaty superceded START II provisions by slashing stockpiles to significantly lower levels.
Flamboyant ultranationalist and Duma deputy speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky said the day was a "holiday" for Russia. "We can now do whatever we want," Interfax reported him as saying.
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