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 | Sunday, April 16, 2000, updated at 10:28(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Clinton Talks to Putin, Discusses Vote on Nuclear ArmsUS President Bill Clinton congratulated Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin by telephone on Saturday for Russia's long-delayed approval of the START-II nuclear weapons treaty.White House spokesman Jake Siewert said Clinton talked by phone to Putin for about 10 minutes and told him that the Russian parliament's approval of the treaty on Friday was "an important step forward toward the reduction of nuclear arms." He also told Putin he hoped they could meet before the Okinawa, Japan, summit meeting in July of leaders of the Group of Seven major industrialised democracies plus Russia. No date was given for such a meeting but speculation has been that Clinton might go to Moscow in late May or early June during a previously scheduled European trip. Siewert said Clinton told Putin that he hoped the two countries could seek deeper nuclear reductions through a START-III treaty. Putin, after the Russian parliament, or Duma, acted, had said the nuclear arms control ball was now in Washington's court. START-II is the acronym for the second Strategic Arms Reduction Talks treaty, which was signed seven years ago in January 1993 and ratified by the US Senate in 1996. Under START-II, the United States and Russia agreed to cut the number of nuclear warheads from 6,000 to no more than 3,500 on each side by 2007. Russian and American negotiators are scheduled to meet for two days in Geneva next week to discuss launching START-III negotiations on deeper cuts. The United States has suggested limiting the number of warheads on each side to between 2,000 and 2,500. Russia has suggested an even lower number. Siewert said the two leaders also discussed Washington's desire to modify the 1972 ABM treaty in order to be able to deploy a national missile defence, a move opposed by Moscow, which sees it as upsetting the strategic balance. In addition, they discussed Russian economic reform, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and Russia's military campaign against rebels in the breakaway region of Chechnya. The United States has been sharply critical of Russia's six-month-old conflict in Chechnya but has done little to penalise Moscow for it. Putin is prepared to make his first trip to the West since being elected last month during which he is certain to face criticism over his Chechnya policy. His host, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has made clear he will raise the issue of alleged human rights abuses in Chechnya during their talks.
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