Russia cautious over US arms treaty

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov says Moscow reserves the right to withdraw from the new arms control treaty with the United States if it considers prospective US missile defense systems threatening to its security.

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, said, "The Russian Federation will have the right to withdraw from the new treaty if the quantitative and qualitative growth of the potential of the US strategic anti-missile defense starts exerting substantial influence on the efficiency of the Russian strategic nuclear forces. It goes without saying that we ourselves will determine the degree of this influence."

US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, are set to sign the new nuclear arms reduction treaty in Prague on Thursday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks to the press in Moscow on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. (AP Photo/ Mikhail Metzel)