Russia ready to negotiate new arms deal with Europe: diplomat

Russia is ready for talks on a new agreement to control Europe's conventional arms, a senior diplomat said Wednesday.

"We are ready to consider the possibility and to negotiate a new agreement in line with the new reality," said Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the security and disarmament department of Russia's Foreign Ministry.

Ulyanov said the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) has been absolutely obsolete and nonsensical since it was inked in times of the pro-Soviet Warsaw Treaty Organization, which became defunct in 1991.

"Under no circumstances would we return to the CFE," he was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying, while noting that Russia's withdrawal has no links with current exacerbation of its relations with the West.

The CFE, signed in November 1990 in Paris by 16 NATO countries and six Soviet allies, has limited the categories of conventional military equipment deployed from the Atlantic to the Urals and mandated the destruction or removal of excess weaponry.

On Tuesday, Russia declared its complete withdrawal from the treaty and handed over its vote in the CFE's Joint Consultative Group (JCG) to Belarus.

"This step doesn't mean Russia refuses to conduct further dialogues on conventional arms control in Europe," said Anton Mazur, head of the Russian delegation to the JCG.

"We are still willing to cooperate under a new regime that would meet the interests of Russia and other European countries," he said.

In April 2007, President Vladimir Putin noted Moscow's disagreement with the U.S. anti-missile plans in Europe and issued a decree two months later to suspended its participation in the Treaty and only attended the JCG. Endi