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Monday, 15.10.2007
No agreement over anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe
Moscow. Putin warned the USA in Moscow against pushing ahead with the anti-missile shield. The talks ended without any agreement. Russia is considering withdrawing from another arms control treaty.
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Top US officials go Moscow: US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Pentagon chief Robert Gates arrived for 2+2 talks in the Russian capital. They were there to discuss the American anti-missile shield with their counterparts Sergei Lavrov und Anatoly Serdyukov.
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Putin wants work on the shield to slow
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Rice and Gates were received by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He warned his guests against pressing on with their anti-missile plans. He advised the USA to take their time. A time will come when both sides could station anti-missile defence systems on the moon, Putin declared, but only if neither side had gone ahead with their own plans independently.
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Russia sharply criticised US plans to install an anti-missile shield in Poland and Czech Republic. Moscow feels its security threatened by these plans, which Russian experts regard as destroying the military balance in Europe. No agreement on missiles
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US secretary of state Rice assured the Russians that she had come to Moscow to bridge differences in opinion. However, she admitted that this had not succeeded.
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"No agreement was reached on anti-missile defence and development of nuclear warheads. But both sides are convinced that experts should get to grips with the issues as soon as possible,” Rice said after the talks.
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Differences between Washington and Moscow unbridgeable
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It had become clear in advance that the differences would prove unreconcileable. Rice insisted that there were fundamental ideas that Washington could not back down on. These included the anti-missile shield in Poland and the radar station in Czech Republic.
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Russia’s chief diplomat Lavrov had expressed optimism in the run-up to the talks. He was expecting Russian proposals would create the basis for a serious dialogue and agreement on principals.
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Will another arms control treaty be abandoned?
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Ultimately the differences only deepened. Following Russia’s declaration of a moratorium for the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, at the meeting with Rice and Gates Putin also mentioned the possibility of Russian abrogation of another arms control treaty.
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The Soviet-US treaty restricting deployment of short and medium-range missiles has to be amended to include other states besides the US and Russia, demanded Putin. “If we cannot achieve this, we will find it difficult to remain in compliance with this treaty,” he said. Putin pointed out that Russia’s neighbours are actively developing short and medium range missiles.
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