No signs Russia will tear up arms control treaties: US

Washington: The United States said Monday there were no indications Russia would renege on arms reduction pacts, such as the START I nuclear weapons treaty, following the conflict over Georgia but warned that such a move "will be crossing a new threshold."

"We don't have any indication that the Russians plan to move away from agreements like the START treaty or Moscow treaty or the INF agreement," said Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Rood.

"And I think that would have obvious implications, not only for the United States relationship, but for relations with a lot of other countries," he said when asked about the prospect of Moscow tearing up arms reduction pacts amid increasingly tense relations after Russian troops moved into Georgia.

Aside from the START I treaty aimed at limiting each side's intercontinental nuclear arsenals, the United States and Russia have a Strategic Offensive Reductions (SORT) or Moscow Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

Rood noted that talks on issues of strategic security between the two sides "occurred even in the toughest times of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union" and he expected the situation to remain the same.

"Russia is not the Soviet Union. But, nonetheless, I think we would still want to have a dialogue, have an ongoing conversation with the Russian government about strategic security issues," he added.

Russian troops rolled into Georgia on August 8 to fight off a Georgian offensive to retake the pro-Russian breakaway South Ossetia. They have since refused to completely withdraw under a peace plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Following Western condemnations, Moscow has threatened to cut off links with NATO and has already broken off some trade agreements reached during negotiations for it to join the World Trade Organisation.

Rood said that the Russians, prior to the Georgian conflict, had "expressed strong interest in a new treaty as a follow on to the START agreement, which expires next year.

He pointed out that Washington was similarly keen on such a deal even though it had made it clear that it would not be "business as usual" with Moscow unless Russian troops withdrew from Georgia and abided by the ceasefire.

"We in the United States have an interest in pursuing that. We remain interested in negotiating such an agreement with the Russians, he said.

"I don't think that has changed and also I would hasten to add what we have said is that 'we are not going to conduct business as usual with Russia.'"

Rood said that based on Russia's last START declarations, it had about 850 intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs.

The missiles, he pointed out, were not threatened by a recently signed US-Poland plan to base 10 interceptor missiles in the ex-communist nation.

"Ten interceptors versus that force, with thousands of nuclear warheads, is not a credible threat. And it's not intended to be one," Rood said.

Moscow is deeply opposed to the missile plan.