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Russia, US Should Specify Positions on Strategic Stability: Official
During the upcoming Russian-US consultations, Moscow and Washington ought to specify their positions on missile defense and strategic stability problems, Assistant to the Russian President, former Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said in an interview with Tass published Monday.
"This applies first of all to the US side, because, apart from philosophy and conceptual theses, we did not hear anything specific from Washington so far," Sergeyev said, adding that Russia has fully set out its stand on these issues.
Commenting on the statement made by US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that Washington does not plan to upset the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty but intends to withdraw from it in keeping with the provisions of the treaty, Sergeyev stated, "This would be the will of the US, not of Russia."
In this connection, Sergeyev said, "Russia seeks to conduct a dialogue on offensive and defensive strategic arms in the format approved by the Presidents of Russia and the US."
Moscow comes out in favor of working out an approach which would ensure the security of both the US and Russia while " keeping what was created in the 20th century and is acceptable in the 21st one," stressed Sergeyev.
The ABM treaty is the cornerstone of global strategic stability and its dismantling will do an irreparable damage to international security, he said.
A Russian military delegation headed by First Deputy Head of the Russian General Staff Yury Baluyevsky left Moscow for Washington on Monday for consultations on ABM and START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) issues.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the experts from Russian Defense Ministry and General Staff will conduct consultations with their US. counterparts on a broad range of issues relating to missile defense and START, said the Russian Defense Ministry.
On August 13-14, Russian and US defense ministers will continue the talks on these problems in Moscow.
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