Russia’s foreign minister says ready to discuss reducing nuclear arms

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday Russia was willing to discuss reducing nuclear weapons, news agency RIA reported.

“We are ready to discuss the possibility of further reducing nuclear capacity, but only if all factors are taken into account and not only the number of strategic offensive weapons,” Lavrov was quoted as saying.

He said it was “absolutely clear the time had not yet come” for eliminating all nuclear arms, news agency TASS reported.

Newsverge reports that ina report by USA Today on Dec. 23, 2016, U.S., Russia dominated list of countries with nuclear weapons.

In the report, it said that Russia had 7,300 nuclear weapons, according to calculations provided by the non-partisan Ploughshares Fund, which advocates for a reduction in the number of such arms.

The U.S. has 6,970.

Those numbers, it said, were negotiated between the two nations in a treaty negotiated by former President Barack Obama and the Russians and ratified by the Senate in 2010.

At its peak in 1967, the U.S. had 31,255 nuclear warheads, according to the Arms Control Association.

The other seven nations in the world’s nuclear weapons club combined have fewer arms than either the United States or Russia, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons are France with 300.

The bulk of its weapons are based on submarines, and it also has some that are capable of being delivered by aircraft.

It said that China had 260, UK, 215; Pakistan, 110 to 130; India, 110-120.

Others are Israel, 80 and North Korea, less than 15.