U.S., Russia Agree to Start Talks on Nuclear Reductions

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 18, 2001

U.S., Russia Agree to Start Talks on Nuclear Reductions

The United States and Russia agreed Monday to start technical talks in January to plan mutual cuts of nuclear arms despite their differences on a controversial U.S. missile defense plan.

The United States and Russia agreed Monday to start technical talks in January to plan mutual cuts of nuclear arms despite their differences on a controversial U.S. missile defense plan.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced the meeting of technical experts from both countries following two hours of talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"We have come to an agreement that in January, on an expert level, we will start discussing the specific issues or military aspects of radical reductions of strategic offensive weapons," Ivanov said at a joint press conference with Rumsfeld.

"Both levels of reductions and time-frame of those reductions will be discussed and worked out as well as the issues of verification and transparency," he added.

Both Ivanov and Rumsfeld, who were in Brussels for NATO defense ministers meeting, said last week's announcement by U.S. President George W. Bush that the U.S. would withdraw in six months from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty between Moscow and Washington had not put a chill on U.S.-Russian relations.

While Russia remains strongly opposed to the U.S. plan to build a national missile defense, which is prohibited by the ABM treaty, Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin each earlier announced plans for deep cuts in their large nuclear arsenals.

The Russian level could go as low as 1,500 to 2,200 warheads while the U.S. level could dip to 1,700 to 2,200. There was no immediate announcement on the exact date and place of January's technical meeting.

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