MOSCOW, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Russia will continue to have a "nuclear shield" under a new START treaty, President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.
Negotiators for Russia and the United States are expected to sign a new START treaty early in 2010 to replace START I, which expired Dec. 5. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week both sides are talking about radical cuts in the number of nuclear weapons each possesses.
Medvedev, in a live speech over the three Russian television channels, said the country will continue to have the arms it needs for defense, RIA Novosti reported.
"Our nuclear shield can solve all tasks that are assigned to it," he said. "We will continue developing new systems, including delivery vehicles. That is normal; the rest of the world is doing it."
When they met in April, Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama discussed cuts in both the number of weapons and delivery systems as part of a "reset" of the relationship between the two countries.
