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Powell Seeks Meeting With Russia on NMD
US Secretary of State Colin Powell is seeking a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to explain US national missile defense (NMD) system.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday Powell and Ivanov were trying to set up a meeting during Powell's trip to the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and Europe that begins on February 23. "The secretary may meet with Foreign Minister Ivanov in the near future," Boucher said.
A national missile defense is outlawed by 1972 US-Soviet ABM treaty. The Bush administration wants the treaty changed.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov made clear Monday that he was ready to discuss controversial US plans for a missile defense shield in planned talks with Powell this month.
He was prepared to discuss "any issue", he told reporters after talks with visiting German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
"I do not rule out that my first meeting with the US Secretary of State will take place in the coming days," Ivanov said.
"We believe that during direct talks we will be ready to discuss any issue, including those concerning the security of one party or the other," Ivanov added.
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