Russia may lift veil on nuclear secrets

Russia said on Wednesday it may lift the veil of secrecy over its nuclear arsenal, following the lead of U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration recently dispensed with decades of Cold War secrecy and published the size of its U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko praised the U.S. step and said Russia would consider doing the same after the ratification of the START nuclear arms deal signed by Obama and Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev last month.  "This figure is one of the crown jewels of the Cold War when it comes to state secrets," said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Ploughshares-funded Federation of American Scientists.  (Kristensen maintains one of the most credible estimates in the world of global nuclear arsenals.)