Gold9472
05-06-2007, 10:25 AM
Russia, US in crisis talks over missiles
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/russia-us-in-crisis-talks-over-missiles/2007/05/05/1177788469339.html
David Millikin | May 6, 2007
RUSSIA and the US will bring together their defence and foreign ministers in an unusual top-level bid to ease escalating bilateral tensions.
"We have agreed to a Russian suggestion that the secretaries of Defence and State meet with their Russian counterparts and do so in a so-called 2+2 format," US Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried said.
He said the first meeting was planned for September and could be expanded to include the White House and Kremlin national security advisers.
The Russians suggested the enhanced negotiations during a visit to Moscow last month by Defence Secretary Robert Gates focused on addressing Russian concerns about US plans to station 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic.
Moscow, which has been increasingly vocal in its public criticism of US policy in recent weeks, has protested that the anti-missile shield poses a strategic threat by undermining its own missile deterrence capabilities.
Russian army chief General Yury Baluyevsky ramped up the criticism on Friday by saying deployment of anti-missile sites was "the beginning of a new round of an uncontrollable arms race" in Europe.
President Vladimir Putin, already angry about the expansion of the NATO alliance into former Soviet bloc countries, escalated the dispute last month by announcing Russia was suspending compliance with a key Cold War-era defence pact, the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty.
Democrats in the US Congress have also questioned the missile plan, which would cost about $US3.5 billion ($4.3 billion) and has yet to be proved effective in testing.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a meeting of NATO and Russian foreign ministers in Norway last month, dismissed the Russian complaints as "ludicrous".
Washington says the anti-missile shield, which would not be operational before 2012, is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles, possibly tipped with nuclear weapons, that may be fired by Iran or other "rogue states".
Dr Rice said the proposed European base would be far too limited in size and capability to affect Russia's massive ballistic missile arsenal.
Mr Fried said Russian concerns were based on "a misunderstanding of the limitations" of the proposed sites and fears they could be expanded in future.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/russia-us-in-crisis-talks-over-missiles/2007/05/05/1177788469339.html
David Millikin | May 6, 2007
RUSSIA and the US will bring together their defence and foreign ministers in an unusual top-level bid to ease escalating bilateral tensions.
"We have agreed to a Russian suggestion that the secretaries of Defence and State meet with their Russian counterparts and do so in a so-called 2+2 format," US Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried said.
He said the first meeting was planned for September and could be expanded to include the White House and Kremlin national security advisers.
The Russians suggested the enhanced negotiations during a visit to Moscow last month by Defence Secretary Robert Gates focused on addressing Russian concerns about US plans to station 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic.
Moscow, which has been increasingly vocal in its public criticism of US policy in recent weeks, has protested that the anti-missile shield poses a strategic threat by undermining its own missile deterrence capabilities.
Russian army chief General Yury Baluyevsky ramped up the criticism on Friday by saying deployment of anti-missile sites was "the beginning of a new round of an uncontrollable arms race" in Europe.
President Vladimir Putin, already angry about the expansion of the NATO alliance into former Soviet bloc countries, escalated the dispute last month by announcing Russia was suspending compliance with a key Cold War-era defence pact, the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty.
Democrats in the US Congress have also questioned the missile plan, which would cost about $US3.5 billion ($4.3 billion) and has yet to be proved effective in testing.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a meeting of NATO and Russian foreign ministers in Norway last month, dismissed the Russian complaints as "ludicrous".
Washington says the anti-missile shield, which would not be operational before 2012, is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles, possibly tipped with nuclear weapons, that may be fired by Iran or other "rogue states".
Dr Rice said the proposed European base would be far too limited in size and capability to affect Russia's massive ballistic missile arsenal.
Mr Fried said Russian concerns were based on "a misunderstanding of the limitations" of the proposed sites and fears they could be expanded in future.