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We'll Dump Nukes If Everybody Does: Putin

German leader echoes 'global zero' aim

By the Associated Press

Posted Jun 10, 2009 12:46 PM CDT

(AP) – Russian PM Vladimir Putin says his country is willing to abandon nuclear weapons if the US and all other nuclear-armed countries do the same. Putin was speaking at a meeting with Germany's foreign minister, who said earlier that the idea of scrapping nuclear arms altogether was a real prospect. The US and Russia previously agreed to draft a new treaty to reduce their nuclear stockpiles.

"If those who made the atomic bomb and used it are ready to abandon it—like, I hope, other nuclear powers officially and unofficially owning them—of course we will welcome and facilitate this process in all ways," Putin said today. "The goal of global zero is not a game for utopians, but will be taken up by the doyens of US foreign policy as well as by German and Polish politicians," Germany's foreign minister added.

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says Russia may give up its nuclear arsenal if all other countries that have them do the same. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Pool)

Putin, center background, with his counterparts from other ex-Soviet nations. The Russian leader said he's willing to give up his nation's nukes if others do the same. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, ALexei Nikolsky, Pool)

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If those who made the atomic bomb and used it are ready to abandon it, of course we will welcome and facilitate this process in all ways. - Vladimir Putin, Russia's
prime minister

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We'll Dump Nukes If Everybody Does: Putin