Russia vows to move ahead with U.S. on path of disarmament

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday reiterated its willingness to work with the United States toward the nuclear disarmament, saying that efforts should be made to move forward the process of multilateral disarmament under the UN auspices.

The president, while addressing the general debate of the UN General Assembly, said, "A highly challenging task is to move forward the process of multilateral disarmament under the UN auspices."

"You are aware that positive trends have emerged in overcoming the protracted crisis in this area," he said, citing the positive development in the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament and the Russian-U.S. relations concerned with nuclear disarmament.

"The Conference on Disarmament in Geneva has adapted its program of work," he said. "Let me mention the Russian-Chinese initiative regarding a treaty on the prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space as well as our proposal to universalize the Russian-American Treaty on the Elimination of the Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles."

"Russia will steadily follow the path of verifiable and irreversible reductions in nuclear weapons as an essential element of 'the new start' in our relations with the United States," he said.