CIS Summit Calls For Sticking to ABM TreatyLeaders of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on Wednesday called for preserving the 1972 Soviet-U.S. Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty to keep global strategic stability.The CIS urged more efforts to preserve the treaty "through its strict and full compliance," said a statement adopted at the end of the summit in Moscow. The ABM treaty should remain "the foundation of global strategic stability, international security and world peace," the statement said. "Any measures diluting the aims and provisions of the current ABM treaty would have a negative impact on the security interests of both the treaty signatories and all members of the world community." The treaty will remain a tested foundation for further limitation of strategic nuclear armaments in the world, it said. Welcoming Russia's ratification of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty-II (START II), the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the 1997 package of agreements on ABM, the CIS leaders urged Washington to do the same. They also reaffirmed their determination to continue their efforts to strengthen global strategic stability and international security. |
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