Russians amenable to treaty

By Reuters,, 9/12/2001

OSCOW - Russia signaled yesterday that it no longer sought to talk the United States out of withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, but instead aimed to make the shift to a new strategic relationship ''safer.''

A top general who led Russia's delegation in a day of talks with a Pentagon team responded more mildly than in the past to US plans to withdraw from the landmark pact to build a missile shield, apparently accepting the United States' intentions as unshakable.

The talks took place as news broke of attacks on US targets in New York and Washington, but officials declined to draw links between those attacks and the missile shield issue.

''The US side is proposing to abandon the ABM and build a new strategic relationship,'' said the Russian deputy chief of staff, Yuri Baluyevsky. ''We propose to make movement to this goal safer, to mark the road with traffic signs to new arms deals.''

He added that ''US withdrawal from the ABM pact will not affect these relations of trust.''

Undersecretary of State for Defense Douglas Feith, who led the US side, told journalists he was pleased with the interest shown by the Russians in US proposals to develop a framework for a new strategic relationship.

''We were quite pleased with the interest that was shown in a number of proposals that we put forward ... for developing the framework,'' Feith said.

Asked about yesterday's attacks, he said: ''We have people who are working on addressing counter-terrorist threats and various other types of threats to the US homeland, and when I learn more about what occurred ... I'll be able to comment further.''

Feith said the day of talks had laid the groundwork for talks due in October between US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Feith said the talks had covered the level of US offensive nuclear forces and missile defenses.

''There were elements that we brought that Russia said were new ... It was a serious conversation,'' he said.

There was no indication there had been a significant narrowing of differences over US plans to build a missile shield for protection against strikes by ''rogue states,'' but Baluyevsky's tone was milder than in the past.

Russia sees Washington's perceived threats from states like North Korea, Iraq, and Iran as exaggerated and would prefer to preserve the ABM treaty.

This story ran on page A24 of the Boston Globe on 9/12/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.