Moscow: Russia and the United States need to agree on lower levels of nuclear weapons and invite other nuclear powers — France, the United Kingdom and China — to participate in the talks, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev told Sputnik.
On the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), inked on July 31, 1991, the former Soviet leader noted that the topic of reducing strategic offensive arms was still on the agenda and expressed hope that no one would drag down the Russian-American talks on strategic stability that began earlier this week.
“Stability alone is not enough. We need to negotiate lower levels of nuclear weapons. Then, it will be possible to engage other countries that have nuclear weapons — China, the United Kingdom, France, and others. And [then we can] move together towards the ultimate goal — the elimination of nuclear weapons. I have said it many times and repeat: there can be no other goal. Because nuclear war is unacceptable,” Gorbachev said.
