Update 2 25 November Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and Russian officials have been meeting in Geneva since Sunday according to Michael Parmly, spokesperson for the US Mission in Geneva. The Russian Permament Mission would not comment on the talks but confirmed that they had taken place. Mullen’s office says he met Tuesday with Russian armed forces chief of staff General Nikolai Makarov, AP reports.
Geneva is the site of negotiations between the US and Russia to replace the 1990s-era Start treaty on cuts to both countries’ nuclear arsenals, which expires 5 December. A major obstacle has been the verification process. The Start talks have been the subject of high-level meetings between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev over the course of 2009.
Mullen also met with the head of the Swiss army, André Blattmann, for a working lunch in Geneva Tuesday.
Background: “Start treaty talks may take longer, Obama says“, 16 November 2009, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Adm Mike Mullen on Facebook, US Mission in Geneva, Permanent Russian Mission in Geneva and ABC News, AP/WGN-TV, Chicago
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News story, GenevaLunch, 24 November 2009.
Filed under: Politics
Tags: Barack Obama, Dmitry Medevedev, Geneva, joint chiefs of staff, Mike Mullen, military, nuclear arms talks, Russian Permanent Mission, Start treaty, US Mission, World news