08:26 GMT, November 11, 2008 The United States has presented Russia new plans for a missile-defence shield in the hopes of mollifying Moscow's objections to the programme and salvaging nuclear control accords between the two nations. Russia's Foreign Ministry confirmed Friday, Nov. 7, it has received the proposal and a spokesman said Moscow was studying it. It will be discussed when the United States and Russian defence and foreign ministers meet for their next round of two-plus-two format talks. No date for the talks has been scheduled yet although Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, said they could take place within the next two weeks.
Washington's overture comes after Russia threatened Moscow would deploy short-range Iskander missiles (Iskander tactical missile system graphic: http://en.rian.ru/img/118288575_free.html) on the border with Poland, should the U.S. set up components of the missile-defence system in Eastern Europe.
New access
John Rood, U.S. Under Secretary of State for arms control and international security, said Thursday that the fresh proposal built on previous compromises that would allow the Russian military greater access to elements of the missile-defence shield to be located in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Under the U.S. proposals, Russian officials would be allowed to go to the missile-defence sites and "see for themselves that the sites are going to serve the purpose that we envision in the United States," Rood said.
He added Washington has put forth plans to replace a key Cold War-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) when it expires in December 2009.
Rood is set to meet his Russian counterpart Ryabkov in Moscow later this month to discuss the proposals.
"We are looking forward to a robust dialogue with the Russians," Rood told Reuters news agency.
However, it seems that Moscow will now wait and see what the Obama administration, after January 20th 2008) has to propose. Obama signalized he supports work on a system that protects the U.S. and its allies from missile attacks, but added that any such system must be "pragmatic and cost-effective."
The president-elect has said he will see verifiable reductions in all U.S. and Russian nuclear systems during his administration.
Yesterday the said U.S. State Department said that the Bush administration still wants to hold talks with Moscow. "We want to be clear and say that we remain interested in talking to Russia about missile-defence," said Robert Wood, deputy spokesman for the department. "We encourage the Russians very strongly to engage with us on missile defense," Wood said. (Photo: U.S. DoD)
Luca Bonsignore
