Russia press with nuclear non-proliferation on Munich conf.

MUNICH. February 6. KAZINFORM Russian delegate to the Munich conference on international security Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov will press with nuclear non-proliferation in his address on Friday.

Ivanov said on the eve of the conference he plans to design cooperation guidelines in the sphere with the new USA administration. He described the positions of both countries on the issue ?as rather close?. On the sidelines of the conference Ivanov will meet US Vice-President Joe Biden, who is expected to outline the new approaches of the US administration to key security issues. ?Everyone is looking forward to a benefit performance of the U.S. foreign policy,? Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, who will be on the Russian delegation in Munich, told Tass. However, Rogozin believes it will be President Barack Obama himself who would voice initiatives on the cornerstones of defense and political relations between the US and Russia ? the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and plans to deploy elements of the US missile shield in Europe. ?It?s scarcely worthwhile to expect any practical proposals from Washington right at the Munich conference ? the ones that would change radically the former U.S. approaches to the things as crucial as the missile defense, control over the conventional weapons and nuclear disarmament,? Rogozin said. ?Still, we expect that Joseph Biden, a man well-versed in the art of polemics and a professional in international affairs will make us understand to which degree all these hints are serious,? he said. European media reported that Biden may voice Obama?s idea on a radical ? up to 80% -- slashing of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, Kazinform cites ITAR-TASS.