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Putin Warns Against Dismantling Treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he and President Bush reached a ``very high level'' of trust during their weekend summit, but warned that Russia would strengthen its nuclear arsenal if the United States developed missile defenses that undermined key security treaties.
In a 2 1/2 -hour interview Monday night with American reporters in the wood-paneled Kremlin library, Putin said Bush was a ``very attentive listener'' during the meeting in Slovenia. Putin said he was pleased America no longer considered Russia an enemy.
The mini-summit was the first between Bush and Putin, and the meeting the Kremlin had arduously pursued was a prize for Putin. The globe-trotting Russian leader had visited China just before Slovenia and made lightning stops in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and in Kosovo on his way home.
While acknowledging that Russia is not an equal partner in its relationship with the United States, Putin seemed confident and optimistic about Russia's future and pleased by Bush's assessment that he was a man who could be trusted.
Putin said he and Bush agreed to work together to identify security threats. The United States has cited so-called rogue states as the reason for wanting to change the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty to allow for a missile shield Russia opposes.
Putin said he was worried about possible unilateral action such as U.S. abrogation of nuclear treaty commitments. But he said Russia would strengthen its nuclear capability ¡ª a claim Russia has made in the past ¡ª if America insisted on going it alone.
``But at least for the next 25 years, unilateral action will not cause substantial detriment to the national security interests of Russia,'' he said.
Putin also repeated Russia's position that the United States should not abandon the ABM treaty, saying that would undermine efforts to limit the numbers of nuclear weapons.
``If one would imagine that we would throw away the ABM treaty, it would mean that automatically the START I and START II (treaties) are thrown in the trash immediately,'' he said.
Disposal of the treaties would compel Russia to reinforce its nuclear capability, he said.
``Our nuclear potential will be strengthened,'' he said, adding that it wouldn't take much money to upgrade the nuclear arsenal and that it would be done by putting multiple warheads on strategic missiles.
He also insisted that Bush's proposed missile defense shield would never work.
``It's like a bullet hitting a bullet. Is it possible today or not? Today experts say that it is impossible to achieve this,'' Putin said.
It was the first time Putin had invited a group of U.S. journalists for a sit-down in the Kremlin since his election in March 2000.
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