From Interfax: Russia may withdraw from a new treaty with the U.S. on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons if the U.S. missile defense potential reaches a scale threatening Russia’s national security interests, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said.

"This provision concerns both a quantitative and qualitative increase in the U.S. strategic missile defense potential," Prikhodko told journalists on Friday.

This provision "will be mentioned in the Russian Federation’s unilateral statement it plans to make while signing the treaty," he said.

"This statement will be a separate political document accompanying the treaty. A possible statement the U.S. could make in response to it will have a similar status," he said. …

"This position does not prevent each party from making unilateral decisions but unambiguously presumes that the strategic offensive weapons will be reduced to a degree to which each party ensures its security, taking into account at the same time the existence of strategic defense systems capable of neutralizing strategic offensive weapons. This interrelation will be stipulated legally," Prikhodko said.  (photo: Getty)

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