OREANDA-NEWS. Moscow welcomes Rome’s intention not to refuse Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to begin a dialogue on a moratorium on the deployment of intermediate-range nuclear missiles. This was said by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after the talks between the foreign ministers and the ministers of defense of Russia and Italy.

Lavrov noted that during the negotiations with his Italian counterpart, “they examined in detail the problems of strategic stability with regard to the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty.” “We attracted the attention of our colleagues to the fact that last autumn, President Putin addressed all leaders of NATO countries and other states with a proposal to agree on a joint moratorium on the deployment of such systems… I was pleased to note that in one of his the interview… Luigi Di Mayo [Italian Foreign Minister. – Ed.] said that Italy sees no reason why President Putin’s invitation to start a dialogue should be rejected, and urged not to refuse this proposal,” Lavrov said. “We welcome this approach,” he added.