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Russia Says Renaming NMD Can't Change Essence of US Missile Defense
The renaming of the US national missile defense (NMD) will not change the essence of the Washington desired missile shields, and Russia will insist on its consistent stand on preserving the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Friday.
The statement made by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that the term "national" will be replaced in the name of the US missile defense program cannot hide the essence of the concept. Russia has no interest in playing "words game," Ivanov told a news conference after meeting with Swedish counterpart Anna Lindh in Stockholm, where he arrived Friday for arranging an upcoming Russian-EU summit.
The US missile defense plans, NMD and TMD (theater missile defense), will be inconsistent with the ABM treaty reached between Russia and the US in 1972 and will bring about the collapse of the whole strategic stability system in the world, Ivanov stressed.
Russia's proposal on setting up a non-strategic European missile defense system calls for a general approach to deploying regional missile defense systems and conforms to the ABM treaty norms, Interfax news agency cited Ivanov as saying.
Meanwhile, Ivanov reaffirmed that Russia does not keep any nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad region, a Russian enclave circled by Poland and Lithuania, which are applying for EU membership.
However, he noted, it is true that Russia has not undertaken not to deploy nuclear weapons in any part of its territory.
Russia is prepared to discuss the issue of tactical nuclear weapons in talks on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty-III (START- III) in the future, he added.
Russia has offered the United States that all nuclear weapons " be kept only on our national territories," Ivanov said. "This would be an important step towards the consolidation of international stability and trust," he noted.
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