Russia not to join Arms Trade Treaty

MOSCOW - Russia will not join the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) before its defects are removed, a senior diplomat said Thursday at an arms exhibition.

"We had proposed to make amendments to the treaty to bring it into compliance with international law," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a meeting during the Russian Arms Expo-2013 held in Nizhni Tagil in the Urals.

"However, neither the EU nor NATO want to hear us so far," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Ryabkov said the treaty has many defects, which may result in the illegal transfer of weapons "to certain unauthorized non-state subjects."

Moscow will make the final decision depending on "when the treaty comes into force and when the first conference to review its clauses will take place," the diplomat said.

The United States signed the treaty on the sideline of the annual UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.