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Russia, U.S. Sign Accords, Differences Persist
The presidents of Russia and the United States signed two documents Sunday, but their summit have failed to remove differences over missile defense and other issues such as Chechnya.
Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart, Bill Clinton, voiced satisfaction with the results of the talks.
The accords signed in the Kremlin include a joint statement on strategic stability principles and a memorandum on establishing a joint center for the exchange of information about missile launches and reports from early warning systems.
Under the joint statement, the two leaders pledged to intensify the dialogue on anti-ballistic missile defense issues and further cuts in strategic forces in the framework of the proposed START III treaty.
Putin told a joint press conference that he was satisfied with the "spirit quality and contents" of the summit, the first with Clinton since he was sworn in early last month.
"The summit not only confirmed the high standard of our relations, but also consolidated the trends in our relations for the nearest future," Putin said.
The two leaders also approved joint statements on handling military grade plutonium and cooperation in combating global warming at the end of the Russian-U.S. summit in Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported.
Putin and Clinton noted that the agreement reaffirms the determination of the two countries to take steps preventing plutonium from ever being used in nuclear arms or for any other military purposes and that its handling and disposal should be safe, reliable, environmentally justified, transparent and irreversible.
The proposed Russian-U.S. joint center for exchanging information about missile launches and reports from early warning systems will start operating in north Moscow in June next year.
The center will be set up to organize a continuous exchange of information about ballistic missile and space booster-rocket launches collected from Russian and U.S. early warning systems. It will be the first Russian-U.S. military center operating on a permanent basis.
Clinton arrived in Moscwo Saturday on a three-day working visit to Russia. He is scheduled to leave Monday for Ukraine, the last leg of his Europe tour.
The two sides failed to settle their differences over U.S. plans to build a national missile defense system that Moscow believes to be in violation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and over Russia's military campaign against rebels in its breakaway Chechen republic.
They also have to bridge their gaps on the reduction of strategic arms under the third stage of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Moscow wants to bring down the number of nuclear warheads each to 1,500, but Washington is only prepared to the figure of around 2,500.
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