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Russian Senior Official Denounces US Quit from ABM
A senior Russian official on Monday denounced the US intention to quit from the 1972 Anti- Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty as a fuse to an arms race, while reaffirming Russia's stand to preserve the treaty.
The US deployment of a National Missile Defense system, which means exit from the ABM treaty, "will cause competition between the creators of strategic defensive and offensive systems," Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's main department for military cooperation, told a press conference here.
Russia's stance on the ABM Treaty has not changed: the treaty must be preserved and the parties to this treaty must strictly observe its norms and fulfill all obligations, Ivashov said.
The general said Russia would regard the first cubic meter of concrete laid for the construction of launch pads for American interceptor-missiles as a US exit from the ABM Treaty.
However, the Russian side would not stop its efforts in preserving the ABM Treaty "even if the US started to deploy national anti-missile defense," he added.
Russia's recent initiative to create the European non-strategic ABM system, which was given to NATO Secretary-General George Robertson during his visit to Moscow in February, "are dramatically opposite to the U.S. intentions for creating the NMD system."
Ivashov noted that Russia's proposals are based on the idea of creating "international mobile forces that can be moved to areas that might be faced with a missile threat, while the US intends to create a protective shield to cover only its own national territory."
The general on Sunday showed a tougher stance on the issue, warning that Russia and the US may return a Cold War state, if the US insists on the deployment of the NMD system.
"If the US leaves the ABM treaty, Russia will certainly take measures to protect its security," he told the national RTV television.
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