Russia, India Speak Against ABM, Intensify Military CooperationRussia and India said Thursday that they oppose the U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense system anywhere in the world, vowing to consolidate bilateral operation in military and other fields.Moscow and New Delhi "express serious concern over the U.S. plan to deploy a national or a theater anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defense system, which will break the 1972 ABM treaty," Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev told the press after a meeting with his Indian counterpart George Fernandes, who arrived Monday for a five-day visit. "Such actions (of the U.S.), in our view, could limit the prospects for further nuclear disarmament, significantly weaken the nuclear non-proliferation regime and push the nuclear powers into revising their plans on modernizing strategic armaments," he said. Such U.S. steps as withdrawing from the ABM treaty could result in"an uncontrollable nuclear arms race and a threat to peace and security worldwide," Sergeyev stressed. The Indian minister, for his part, spoke in favor of the existing global nuclear weapons balance. Washington should see that "the huge amount of money it intends to spend on this plan could be much better and more useful if spent on providing aid to developing countries,"Fernandes noted. Sergeyev said the joint Russian-U.S. center for ballistic missile launch information "will do no harm to the security interests of third countries, including India." This center, to which Russia and the U.S. agreed during U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit to Moscow in early June to set up in ten months,will only monitor the launches of Russian and American intercontinental ballistic missiles, he said. The two ministers also discussed bilateral military cooperation, signed a protocol on the results of the visit by Fernandes to Russia,a document on further expansion of military and military-technical cooperation between the two nations. By the protocol, a Russian-Indian committee for military-technical issues will be created, Fernandes told the press. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and Fernandes have been appointed as its co-chairmen. Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin received Fernandes and they discussed Russian-Indian political cooperation on the international scene, military- technical cooperation, measures against international terrorism and global strategic stability, said the Kremlin. Another purpose of the Moscow trip by Fernandes is to prepare for Putin's visit to New Delhi on October 2-4, deputy chief of the Kremlin staff Sergei Prikhodko told a news briefing. |
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