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Senior Russian, US Officials Propose New Int'l Security Structure
Russia and the US are seeking a new, stronger and more solid foundation for the international security system, said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov after his Thursday meeting with visiting US Presidential National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
Ivanov said the system includes "the key question of strategic stability, which consists of offensive and defense weapons."
He told the press that he discussed with Rice a wide range of questions, but they reached no understandings during the one-hour conversation.
"Principal and conceptual approaches (of the sides) were confirmed," he stressed, adding that Moscow and Washington "are not antagonists and opponents."
Ivanov said he and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Ramsfeld, had earlier agreed to start expert-level consultations over anti- missile defense issues on August 7-8 in Washington. To this end, Russia will send a delegation led by First Deputy Chief of the Russian army's General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky to Washington and Ramsfeld will visit Moscow on August 13 to 14 for ministerial talks.
"We have a great deal of questions to ask each other and both sides are set on a serious, frank and constructive dialogue," he said.
Rice, who arrived here Wednesday for a two-day visit, echoed with Ivanov by emphasizing that the U.S. and Russia should find a new basis for cooperation, and go beyond the agreements shaped during the Cold War era.
Talking about her vision of the new structure of strategic stability, Rice said the two countries have very broad possibilities for jointly moving forward.
Rice told reporters that the two countries are holding talks on non-proliferation issues and a peaceful settlement in Karabakh, in the Middle East and in the Balkans.
A new era of cooperation has begun and one should go away from the Cold War, she said, adding such a trend determines the appearance of the new security structure.
However, to avert an image of swift shift on the anti-missile defense problem, Ivanov stressed the two sides "are at the beginning of the road" and "no one knows concrete details of the new security structure."
"Strategic stability is an important but by far not the only theme in our relations and in our attempts to create a new structure of international security," the minister said.
Among other cooperation areas between Russia and the U.S. is above all the struggle against terrorism, he said.
Ivanov and Rice held a 40-minute face-to-face talk without interpreters Thursday morning.
Rice is to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later Thursday.
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