Disarmament must be bilateral, Lavrov says

MOSCOW, June 11 (UPI) -- Neither Russia nor the United States can single-handedly push disarmament for a reduction in nuclear arsenals, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"Unilateral steps are not expected from either the Russian Federation or the United States," Lavrov said during a news conference Wednesday. "And I hope that such a rejection of unilateralism will also be expanded to cover the sphere of strategic defensive systems, by which I mean missile defense."

Moscow opposes U.S. plans to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and tracking radar in the Czech Republic, saying the defense shield negotiated by the George W. Bush administration threatens Russia's national security, RIA Novosti reported Thursday. U.S. officials say the missile defense system is needed to counter possible strikes from rogue countries.

Russian and U.S. negotiators have had two rounds of formal talks on a successor agreement to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires Dec. 5. Negotiators agreed to report on the first results of their work at a Russian-U.S. summit in Moscow next month.