UNITED NATIONS (UPI) The Russian ambassador to the United Nations said Thursday that a non-binding resolution was informally circulated at the U.N. General Assembly "about a week ago" to underscore the importance of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty.

Sergei Lavrov called the treaty "the cornerstone of the international security system" and said changing it would threaten global non-proliferation goals.

The United States has proposed renegotiating the treaty to allow for the possible production of a limited missile defense to protect against attacks by "Without this treaty," said Lavrov, "it would be impossible to continue with nuclear disarmament. It would be very difficult to keep non-proliferation regimes in the area of weapons of mass destruction, and this is touching upon the basis of the current modern system of international strategic stability."

The measure was given to members of the assembly's First Committee on disarmament and international security. It was also supported by China and Belarus.

Lavrov, who is president of the Security Council this month, told reporters that bypassing the ABM treaty "and undermining its central provision of non-creation of national anti-missile defenses is going to have consequences, very negative consequences, for the entire global disarmament system and for global stability."

He said it would "undermine existing treaties in non-proliferation and reduction of strategic armaments."