RUSSIA: UNITED STATES SAYS IT WILL UNILATERALLY WITHDRAW FROM 1972 ABM TREATY IF NO COMPROMISE ON ITS MISSILE DEFENCE PLAN IS REACHED WITH RUSSIA

Record ID: 215468

  • Title: RUSSIA: UNITED STATES SAYS IT WILL UNILATERALLY WITHDRAW FROM 1972 ABM TREATY IF NO COMPROMISE ON ITS MISSILE DEFENCE PLAN IS REACHED WITH RUSSIA
  • Date: 22nd August 2001
  • Summary: (U7) MOSCOW, CIS (AUGUST 22, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. MV: US UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN BOLTON, ENTERING THE PRESS-CONFERENCE ROOM 0.04 2. SV: MEDIA IN THE ROOM 0.10 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOLTON SAYING: "We have said to the Russians on repeated occasions in this week that if our preferred option - of jointly withdrawing f
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVAEII4PUUMMNP3J0P2YT2XP2QK3
  • Story Text: The United States plans to withdraw unilaterally from
    the 1972 Anti-ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty if no compromise
    on its missile defence plans is reached with Russia within
    months.


    U.S.Under-Secretary of State John Bolton who had held
    two days of arms talks in Moscow, said on Wednesday (August
    22) that that the issue of the ABM treaty will be discussed
    during the meetings between President George W. Bush and his
    Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin first in Shanghai in
    October and then in Texas in November 2001.

    Bolton said that the Russians had acknowledged the U.S.

    right to withdraw unilaterally from the 1972 ABM treaty, but
    that the United States would prefer another option - to
    withdraw from the treaty jointly.

    U.S. Under Secretary of State has confirmed that there are
    still many disagreements between Russia and the United States
    on the problem of the NMD (National Missile Defence system)
    necessity. But at the same time there are signs of common
    approach to several issues, for example the threat from the
    so-called "rogue states"."What some of them said during the
    consultations we've just concluded is they actually thought
    that Russia may be in greater risk from some of them than the
    United States and given the geographical proximity of the
    states like Iran, I think its a fair assessment on their part.

    So, I don't see the disagreements between Russia and United
    States on the threat assessments will really be all that great
    anymore," said John Bolton.

    Moscow and Washington engaged in intensive negotiations
    after Bush and Putin last month reached a loose agreement to
    link cuts in nuclear arsenals to missile defence.

    The agreement seemed set to pave the way for Moscow to
    soften its stance on ABM while securing major arms reductions
    which it needs to free up money for military reform.

    But the two sides' positions have since diverged. In a
    stark warning to Moscow that it should soften its position or
    end up empty-handed, Washington announced on Tuesday that it
    had given the go-ahead to begin clearing ground this month for
    a missile defence testing site in Alaska.

    Bolton said Russia, which has complained the United
    States was keeping it in the dark about the shape and scale of
    its missile defence system, now had enough data from
    Washington.

    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet Russian
    Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in September.


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