Russia Preparing START III Talks With U.S.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Saturday that Moscow is making active preparations for negotiations on START III with Washington, the Interfax news agency reported.

In the course of the G-8 summit in Okinawa, Japan, Russian President Vladimir Putin handed over "detailed proposals on principal aspects of negotiations on START III" to U.S. President Bill Clinton, Interfax quoted Ivanov as saying in a statement.

"The conclusion of START III is possible only provided that the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty of 1972 remains inviolable," Ivanov stressed.

The issue of strategic stability "will be the focus of Russian president's and foreign minister's meetings (with their partners) at the upcoming Millennium Summit in New York and during Putin's visit to Japan," Ivanov said.

The Russian-U.S. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty III (START III), which was agreed in outline three years ago, is aimed at further cuts in the number of both countries' nuclear warheads.

U.S. President Bill Clinton on Friday delayed a decision on the deployment of a controversial national missile defense system, which would violate the ABM Treaty signed by the U.S. and the former Soviet Union.

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